Revenue figure shows strong economic recovery in Q1
Revenue collection at this time last year was quite low due to the pandemic
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has seen a 16.72% growth in revenue collection in the first three months of fiscal 2021-22, which indicates a strong economic recovery.
The government collects this revenue on domestic business, import of goods, and personal income.
An NBR official said revenue collection has increased as a result of normalisation of economic activities, digitisation of the revenue system, and strengthening of source tax collection and revenue board's monitoring system.
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Revenue collection at this time last year was quite low due to the pandemic.
Abdul Majid, former chairman of the NBR, said the economy had regained much of its momentum after the first blow of the coronavirus.
"Since the beginning of this fiscal year, import-export has increased, local production and supply chain has also gained momentum. As a result, revenue collection has also increased," he said.
"However, the income of small businesses and low-income people has not been normal. Its effect on revenue is not the same."
According to the statistics department at the NBR, the collection of customs revenue at the import stage has secured the top position.
As per the provisional data, the NBR saw a 21% growth till September. The collection was Tk19,309 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal year in the customs sector against the target of Tk21,727 crore.
Customs officials say a lot of products from previous orders have entered the country in the past few months. Imports of cement clinker, steel materials, and machinery have increased through the Chattogram port.
Like customs, NBR has had more success in the VAT sector. Most of the success has come from the large taxpayer unit (VAT) set up to collect VAT from large companies.
According to revenue board sources, the revenue in the VAT sector stood at Tk21,092 crore against the target of Tk23,040 crore in the first three months. The growth was 16.45%.
An official of the VAT department thinks that this success is mainly due to the business growth of large companies and the strengthening of their monitoring system.
The NBR collects 80% of the tax from the source sector from individual taxpayers and businesses. In the first quarter, the income tax growth was 12.74%.
Abdul Majid believes that the highest growth should have been in the income tax sector at the beginning of the financial year.
He said the tax part is deducted at the source. It does not require NBR monitoring. Collection in this sector is somewhat easier as tax is deducted directly from taxpayers' bank accounts.
