KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presiding over a joint meeting of tax collecting agencies of the province (Sindh Revenue Board, Excise & Taxation and Board of Revenue) observed that the recoveries of the Board of Revenue have fallen short because of recent floods and heavy rains but the Sindh Revenue Board and E&T department are bound to achieve their targets.

The chief minister directed the Board of Revenue to take necessary measures to enhance revenue collection.

The CM directed the E&T department to launch a campaign against tax defaulting vehicles and stopped them from transferring vehicles on the open letters.

The meeting was held at CM House and was attended by CM Advisor on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan, Revenue Minister Makhdoom Mahboob, Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Chawla, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, SMBR, Baqaullah Unar, Secretary Finance Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary to CM Raheem Shaikh, Secretary Excise Atif Rehman and others.

SRB: The CM was told that the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) was given a target of Rs 180 billion against which it has recovered Rs 128.2066 billion during the eight months of the financial year 2022-23 showing revenue growth of 22 percent.

The chief minister told the chief minister that the SRB would achieve its target easily.

E&T dept: Minister Excise & Taxation Mukesh Chawal told the chief minister that his dept was given a target of Rs 127,200 million against which Rs 63,331 million have been recovered during the last eight months. He vowed to achieve the target by the end of the financial year.

Chawla said that the E&T dept recovered provincial excise, motor vehicle tax, cotton fees, infrastructure cess, entertainment tax, and different fees.

“We used to collect property tax and professional tax which have been devolved to local bodies even then the property tax recovery has been recorded at Rs 8 million and professional tax Rs 464 million,” he said and added against a target of Rs 12,000 million provincial excise Rs 4,250 million has been recovered.

The minister said that his department has recovered Rs 6,996 million against a target of Rs 14,000 million in motor vehicle tax. Similarly, against a 100,800 million infrastructure cess target, Rs 51,601 million has been recovered.

He added that Rs 8 million entertainment tax and Rs 1 million different types of fees have also been collected so far.

BoR: Minister Revenue Makhdoom Mahboob while briefing the chief minister said that the Board of Revenue (BoR) was given a target of Rs 36 billion against which it has recovered around Rs 10 billion (Rs 9961 million). He added that due to heavy rains and floods, the recoveries have been affected.

He said that the provincial government granted various exemptions to the flood-affected growers.

He added that due to the financial crisis in the country real estate business has shown a downward trend, therefore the ratio of transfer and registration cases of properties has come down considerably.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023