KATHMANDU, April 29: The government might have seriously lagged behind in capital spending, but it is doing well on the revenue collection front. During the first nine months, revenue collection in the national treasury has touched Rs 98.67 billion, exceeding last year´s amount by over 39 percent for the period.

The collection is 6 percent more than the target itself. In the budget for the current fiscal year, the government had targeted to mobilize Rs 141.72 billion in revenues, and many had mocked it as ´ambitious´ and ´unachievable´.

Krishna Hari Baskota, revenue secretary at Ministry of Finance (MoF), attributed the better collection to the reforms and performance-based incentive package initiated in the revenue administration.

Schemes like voluntary declaration of income sources (VDIS) and concessional house-land rental tax payment scheme had also helped to mobilize additional Rs 2 billion.

Of the total revenue, Rs 82.19 billion was collected in the form of taxes which was 36 percent more than the collections during the same period last year.

Collections from non-tax revenues also fetched Rs 16.47 billion, about 58 percent more than what the government had mobilized in first nine months of the last fiscal year.



Because of the awareness and fear the revenue administration managed to spur among taxpayers, income tax collection soared by about 49 percent during the period and touched Rs 19.20 billion. The collection from income tax well exceeded the target by nine percent.

However, it was the value added tax (VAT) that contributed the most in the state´s revenue treasury. The government mobilized Rs 27.38 billion in revenues from VAT. The figure exceeded that of the similar period last year by 23 percent.

VAT revenue growth may be encouraging, but the collection made from it stood short of target by about 8 percent, according to MoF figures.

Customs, on the other hand, contributed Rs 18.44 billion to the revenue. The figure was 25 percent more than what the government collected during the same period last year, but here also the government fell short of target by more than one percent.

The government, however, performed excellently in excise revenue collection. Revenue collections from excise duty grew by 45 percent than the collections recorded during the same period last year. It fetched Rs 10.57 billion to the state and was 13 percent more than what the government´s target for the period.

Registration charges and vehicle tax also contributed Rs 4.88 billion and Rs 1.70 billion to the revenue collection. The total collections recorded during the first nine months made up about 70 percent of the target set for the year.

source:
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