Target of National Board of Revenue (NBR) revenue collection was Tk 4 lakh 30 thousand crore in the current financial year 2023-24. The Ministry of Finance decided to reduce the target by Tk 20 thousand crore to Tk 4 lakh 10 thousand crore after analyzing the pressure of inflation, dollar crisis, stock market slowdown, foreign exchange reserves, defaulted loans, and export earnings. But even after revising the target, NBR is not able to meet the revenue. In the first 9 months of the current financial year (July-March), the shortfall from the revised target has been Tk 21 thousand 930 crore. NBR's revenue target at the time of discussion was Tk 2 lakh 81 thousand 745 crore. Against this, the revenue income has been Tk 2 lakh 59 thousand 814 crore.
According to experts, the target of revenue collection is not possible to be achieved in the existing situation. This needs to be reformed. It is not possible to achieve huge targets by collecting revenue with the British-era system. In this case, the government has to take tough political decisions for reforms. Then it is possible to achieve the target of NBR in next two to three years. In addition, NBR was given ambitious targets at the beginning of the year. As a result it is not achieved at the end of the year. However, in the end the target was reduced. But in the light of reality it is not possible to achieve the revised target. For this, they have suggested setting targets in the light of reality.
It is known that in the first 9 months of the current financial year, NBR's revenue collection target was 2 lakh 81 thousand 745 crore. 2 lakh 59 thousand 814 crore of revenue has been collected during the discussion period. At the time of discussion, NBR is lagging behind the target by Tk 21 thousand 930 crore, which is 36.63 percent less than the target. However, the growth during the discussion is 15.21 percent.
According to NBR's provisional calculations, the target of income tax collection in 9 months was Tk 93 thousand 350 crore. Against this, the income was Tk 84 thousand 901 crore. During the discussion period, there is a shortfall in income tax collection of Tk 8 thousand 848 crore. At the time of discussion, the target of collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) was Tk 1 lakh 5 thousand 53 crore. Against this, the income was Tk 1 lakh 650 crore. That is, the deficit is Tk 4 thousand 402 crore. The target of duty collection was Tk 83 thousand crore. Against this, the income was Tk 74 thousand 262 crore. The deficit is Tk 9 thousand 79 crore.
Mohammad Abdul Majeed, Former Chairman of NBR said that no one has an Aladdin's lamp that can reduce NBR's revenue target and achievement gap. There is a huge renovation to be done here. In this case, the government has to take a strict decision. If this reform program is completed, it will be possible to achieve the revenue target within the next two to three years. He said, every year NBR is given an unrealistic target, which NBR can never achieve.
The same happened in the current financial year. He thinks now is the time for complete automation. Revenue collection is not possible now with the British system. The flow of information should be increased, He added. Meanwhile, the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a private research institute, has revealed that the government is going to face a huge revenue deficit in the current fiscal year 2023-24. CDP believes that there will be a deficit of Tk 82 thousand crore at the end of the financial year.
According to NBR sources, the target of revenue collection in March of the current financial year was Tk 36 thousand 647 crore. Tk 33 thousand 227 crore of revenue has been collected in the month under discussion. As a result, there has been a deficit of Tk 3,420 crore in revenue collection in the month of March. This month the growth in revenue collection has been 12.74 percent. The target of income tax collection in March was Tk 13 thousand 906 crore. Tk 12 thousand 589 crore of income tax has been collected in the month under discussion.
In other words, there is a deficit of Tk 1 thousand 316 crore in the month of March. The target of collection was Tk 12 thousand 684 crore. VAT has been collected Tk 11 thousand 949 crore. This month, the shortfall in VAT collection is Tk 735 crore. The target of duty collection in March was Tk 10 thousand 57 crore. The income is Tk 8 thousand 688 crore. In the month of March, the duty collection decreased by Tk 1 thousand 368 crore.
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