According to provincial civil accounts, the Punjab government improved its own tax collection by 8.9 percent to Rs 156.2 billion during the first eight months [July-February] of 2020-21 from Rs 143.4 billion a year ago.
The total tax collection is 70.7 percent of the province’s annual budget target of Rs 220.9 billion.
The most growth was shown by the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) in the collection of sales tax on services, which rose by a whopping 35.4 percent to Rs 93.2 billion from Rs 68.8 billion in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic and significant concessions announced in the budget to support businesses to offset the adverse impacts of the pandemic.
The eight-month PRA collection is over 77 percent of its sales tax on service target of Rs121 billion, according to the provincial civil accounts.
Total eight-month PRA collection stood at Rs 96.6 billion against its overall indirect tax target of Rs125 billion.
A press release by the PRA stated earlier this week that the agency had collected Rs10.6 billion in March, taking its total to Rs107.2 billion for the first nine months of this fiscal when compared with Rs79.6 billion collected during the same period last year.
The Board of Revenue’s collection, on the other hand, fell by over 27 percent to Rs 36.8 billion from Rs 50.6 billion last year against its target of Rs 56 billion for the entire year.
The Excise and Taxation department was able to marginally increase its collection to Rs 21.6 billion from Rs 20.8 billion a year ago.
