Six percent fall in sales tax collection

Sales tax collection, at Rs 3.3 billion, fell six percent short of the Rs 3.5 billion target set for the first quarter of current fiscal year. Sources in Sales Tax House told Business Recorder here on Monday that the amount collected during the quarter was 94 percent of the target.
Juneid Akram, Collector, Sale Tax and Federal Excise, acknowledged failure to meet the target. He said that targets set for July and September had been achieved successfully, but as in August production in units had reduced due to long outages, it also adversely affected sales tax collection. Now that the sales tax of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations is being collected by Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), it also creates hurdles in the process of sales tax collection, he said.