The government collected 40 percent more Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) during the fiscal year 2015-16 as compared to corresponding period of previous fiscal, according to the ministry of finance. A comparison of budgetary operations of 2015-16 with previous year shows that GIDC collection was increased to Rs 79.771 billion during 2015-16 as opposed to Rs 57.021 billion for 2014-15, noting an increase of 40 per cent.
An increase of 22 per cent was also noted in the collection of Natural Gas Development Surcharge during the period under review with collection increasing to Rs 32.6 billion from Rs 25.8 billion. The government collection from petroleum levy has also increased by 14 per cent with collection improving to Rs 149.2 billion in 2015-16 from Rs 131.5 billion.
The present government has made GIDC collection as well as GDS and Petroleum Levy under other taxes by removing these collections from the head of non-tax revenue, a move that was largely believed to show higher tax collection. The GIDC is a dedicated fund for construction of gas pipelines, Iran-Pakistan as well as Turkmenistan-Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There was decline in non-tax revenue collection on account of discount retained on crude price as well as royalties on oil and gas and windfall levy faced a decline during 2015-15 as compared to previous fiscal year. A decline of 5.8 per cent was recorded in collection from discount retained on crude oil prices after the collection contracted to Rs 9.1 billion during 2015-16 from Rs 9.6 billion a year ago.
The decline in revenue collection from royalties on oil and gas was considerable, over 22 per cent, as result of decrease in collection to Rs 57.74 billion from Rs 74.091 billion. The collection in windfall levy witnessed a whooping 86 per cent in 2015-16 as collected dipped to Rs 1.6 billion during 2015-16 from Rs 12.1 billion in 2014-15.