Revenue collection dips further

Collection of revenue has gone down by 11 percent than the government’s projection in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

Though the revenue collected in the period was up by 6 percent as compared to the first quarter of the last fiscal year, it still fell short by 11 percent from meeting the projected amount in the last four months, Annapurna Post daily reported, quoting Finance Ministry sources.

The government has set the target of revenue collection at Rs 81.81 billion for the current fiscal year. Given the current ratio of revenue collection, the government is likely fall short of nearly Rs.3 billion compared to its projection.

A total of Rs 17.89 billion was raised during the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

Slack measures adopted for the collection of VAT is mainly to be blamed for the decline in the overall collection of revenue, officials maintained. The statistics provided by the Revenue Department indicate that the collection of VAT could not go beyond 87 percent, totalling Rs 6.21 billion.

Similarly, there was nine percent decline in the collection of customs duty in the first quarter of this fiscal year, the daily reported.

The Customs Department managed to raise only 91 percent of the estimated amount. Excise duty also remained only 87 percent during this period, officials said.

Officials at the ministry pointed out at the failure to implement defined policies governing the revenue sector. During the past four months, the Finance Ministry failed to hold even a single review meeting on revenue collection. “There is no possibility of collecting customs duty, excise duty and taxes as per the projection,” they said. nepalnews.com mk Dec 11 05