Govt Defies Revenue Collection Target

The finance ministry has collected Rs 22.55 billion revenue in the second month (July 15-August 15) of the current fiscal year.

"The collection is 54.5 per cent higher than the collection in the same period of last fiscal year,"

said Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota. During the same month in the last fiscal year the government has collected Rs 14.58 billion.

Baskota contributed the encouraging collection to the leakage control, higher valuation in customs, and effective monitoring of VAT receipt before the festive season.

The VAT has become the major source of revenue for the government. In the second month, the government has collected Rs 8.76 billion -- the highest among the tax heads -- under the VAT, while from customs it collected Rs 5.34 billion only.

Similarly, the government collected Rs 3.75 billion from excise, Rs 2.63 billion from income tax, Rs 580 million from registration, Rs 570 million from visitors' and Rs 930 million from non-tax.

Reforms in tax administration and new entrants in the tax net have also helped the government collect ore revenue.

Finance Minister Surendra Pandey set a target of Rs 176.50 billion -- Rs 150.24 billion from tax revenue and Rs 26.25 billion from non-tax revenue for the fiscal year 2009-10.

He has announced his accommodative budget of Rs 285.93 billion for the fiscal 2009-10 on July 13. For the first month of this fiscal year (June16-July16), it had set a target of Rs 9.78 billion but the ministry exceeded the target and collected Rs 11.74 billion.

the first month's collection was Rs 4.02 billion more than that in last fiscal year's same month. It was 52.2 per cent higher than the first month of the last fiscal year.

According to the ministry, among all taxes the Value Added Tax (VAT) will fetch in the most revenue, followed by customs.

The ministry is set to collect Rs 51.56 billion in VAT and Rs 33.12 billion in customs.

The collection from excise duty would be Rs 19.64 billion and that from education service tax Rs 120 million, according to the target. It has planned to collect Rs 26.25 billion in non-tax revenue.

The ministry is also encouraged by its campaign to register for service sector employees and professional consultants in the PAN to boost revenue. According to the collection, the income tax comes into the fourth position after VAT, Customs and Excise.