Achi news desk-
Karachi – In the last three years (2020-21 to 2022-23) the Sindh Board of Revenue was given a revenue recovery target of Rs100,640 million against which it could recover Rs48526 million, showing a deficit of Rs52,114 million. Therefore, the Chief Minister of Sindh directed him to propose revival of abolished taxes and improve the e-stamping procedure so that recoveries could be improved.
This was disclosed in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah here at CM House. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, PSCM Agha Wasif, SMBR Baqaullah Unar, Secretary Finance Fayaz Jatoi, Member Board of Revenue Abbas Baloch, Special Secretary Finance Nisar Memon, and others. At the outset, Finance Secretary Fayaz Jatoi told the CM that the Board of Revenue had collected Rs48526 million during the last three financial years, 2020-21 to 2022-23, against a target of Rs100,640 million, showing a shortfall of Rs 52114 million. The CM said, “BOR must bring efficiency to its revenue collection.”
“The SMBR must recommend reforms where necessary; otherwise, he should take concrete measures to improve his performance,” he said, adding that he was not satisfied with his recoveries.
SMBR Baqullah Unar said, “BOR collects five taxes.” He added, “During the current financial year, the BOR has a target of Rs55,218 million. The nine-month target comes to Rs41,414 million, against which it has recovered 33.57 percent, or Rs13,901 million. ”
The CM was told that the water rate recovery target was Rs 805.309 million, against which Rs74.540 million, or 9.2 per cent, was recovered in 2022-23.
To a question, the CM was told that out of 6,090 dehs in the province, the Sindh Irrigation Drainage Authority (SIDA) has collected 2,173 dehs.
The collection of Rs74.540 million has been made from 3,917 dehs allotted to the Revenue Department. The nine-month Agriculture Income Tax (AIT) target is Rs2,723 million, against which the BOR collection is 44.82 percent, or Rs1,220 million.
The collection of registrations is 24.60 percent, or Rs244 million, against a target of Rs990 million. Similarly, the stamp duty target was Rs 36,787 million, but its collection was 33.24 percent, or Rs 12,229 million.
The CM pointed out that the threshold for exempting AIT is 1.2 million, which is very high and can be made equal to the FBR threshold of 0.4 million.
He said the ban on assessing AIT beyond the previous two assessment years could be adjusted to six years. Shah said there is a need to digitize the manual crop inspection, assessment and collection procedures.
In response to a question regarding the shortfall in stamp duty, the CM was told that the general economic situation of the country has affected immovable property transactions.
