Tax revenue jumped 17 percent in 2019-2020: FBR spokesperson

ISLAMABAD: The tax revenue collected in the ongoing fiscal year, 2019-2020, has bumped up 17 percent, a spokesperson for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) clarified on Wednesday, adding that collection from the domestic taxes rose 27 percent to Rs1.341 trillion.

Explaining newspaper reports on the country's tax revenues, the spokesperson said a record Rs2.407 trillion was collected in the ongoing fiscal year's seven-months-to-date, translating into an increase of 17 percent from the Rs2.062 trillion in last year's comparable period.

This significant positive change, he added, was achieved despite a $5-billion compression in imports.

Last year, the FBR had collected Rs1.005 trillion from sales taxes, income taxes, and customs duty at import stage. This year, however, the collection aggregated to Rs1.066 trillion — a mere six percent climb — on the back of a negative impact on customs duty and income tax collected at import stage.

According to state news agency, APP, an FBR statement noted that it was "evident that the aforementioned tremendous growth has been made possible by untiring efforts of FBR despite economic slowdown and without adopting any coercive measure".

The FBR's board also expressed hope that the upcoming economic turnover and the organisation's efforts would allow growth rate to be closer to the assigned targets.