Revenue deficit stood Tk34,158 cr

Fiscal Year 2022-23

Mahfuz Emran: The ongoing global economic crisis continues to have a negative impact on revenue collection. The National Board of Revenue has a target of Tk 370 thousand crore in the fiscal year 2022-23. However, in the financial year (July-May), the revenue deficit is Tk 34,158 crores. To achieve the target, the revenue board has to collect a revenue of Tk 89,225 crores in the last month of June.
Economists say that it is not possible to achieve this target of revenue collection in the last month of the financial year. Private research organization Policy Research Institute (PRI) says that there may be a revenue deficit of Tk 54,600 crore in the current financial year.
Due to the dollar crisis, increase in commodity prices, decrease in LC (Letter of Credit) etc., the speed of revenue collection has slowed down.
Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) Research Director Dr. MA Razzak said that a major part of the revenue comes from imports. When imports stagnate, the pressure on revenue increases. Decrease in imports means negative impact on domestic production. When growth is good, revenue generation is easy.
Advising to focus on expansion of tax net to increase revenue collection, he said that although many have the capacity, they are not covered by tax net. The Board of Revenue should take steps to increase revenue.
It is known that the revenue collection target of the Board of Revenue in the current financial year was Tk 3 lakh 14 thousand crores. During the period under discussion, the NBR has managed to collect revenue of Tk 280 thousand 775 crore. The highest revenue during this period came from Value Added Tax (VAT).Over than Tk One lakh 8 thousand 131 crores came from this sector. Besides, Tk 83,684 crore from import-export, Tk 88,959 crore came from income tax and travel.
Analyzing the figure of revenue collection, it can be seen that the growth of VAT collection is somewhat good, but the revenue collection of import-export and income tax sectors is at the bottom. In the just concluding financial year, the revenue collection target of the import-export sector was Tk 1 lakh 464 crore. Of which, Tk 83,684 crores have been collected. The deficit in this sector is about Tk 16 thousand crores. Although this income of import-export is 4.05 percent higher than the same period of the fiscal year 2021-22. In the fiscal year 2021-22, a revenue of Tk 80,431 crore was collected from import and export.
The revenue collection target of the income tax sector was Tk 92,628 crore during the discussion period. However, Tk 88,959 crores have been collected. The deficit is Tk 3,669 crore. Compared to last financial year, the growth is 7.20 percent. At that time, Tk 82,985 crores came from this sector.
Despite high inflation, the deficit in VAT collection at the end of the financial year stood at Tk 13,709 crores. At the time of discussion, the target of VAT collection in this sector was Tk 1 lakh 21 thousand 841 crores, Tk 1 lakh 8 thousand 131 crores was collected.
Although VAT has increased by 13.64 percent compared to previous financial year. Till May of the last financial year, VAT was collected at Tk 95,153 crores.
NBR officials say that the revenue increases a little in the last month of the financial year. However, it was not possible to achieve the target of the current financial year. At the end of the year, there may be a revenue deficit of around Tk 50 thousand crore. Without considering this deficit, the revenue board will face a big challenge in achieving the additional target for the new year.
The budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 has set a revenue target of Tk 430,000 crore. Economists believe that it will not be possible to achieve the target in the budget of the next fiscal year as well as the current fiscal year.
Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) senior research fellow Taufiqul Islam Khan said that the revenue board will face a major shortfall in tax collection in the new fiscal year as well. It is surprising that this reality has not been taken into account in the revised budget. As a result, an ambitious tax collection target has been set for the fiscal year 2023-24.
Till May, the highest VAT collection was on cigarettes.
According to the sources of the National Board of Revenue, Tk 3,592 crores of VAT has been collected from cigarettes, which is 10.92 percent more than previous financial year.
Apart from this, Tk 424 crores from medicines, Tk 315 crores from petroleum gas, Tk 155 crores from piool products, Tk 156 crores from beverages, Tk 99 crores from MS rods, Tk 81 crores from bidi, Tk 86 crores from ceramic tiles and Tk 68 crores from cement and LP gas.