Home ›› 20 May 2020 ›› World Biz
Despite huge deficit in revenue collection in the current 2019-2020 fiscal year, the revenue collection target is being further increased in the fiscal year 2020-2021. In the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, the total revenue collection target is being set at Tk 3,93,000 crore, up by Tk 15 thousand crore than the current fiscal year.
This information has been known from the Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance and NBR sources. According to sources, the target for revenue collection through the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is set at Tk 3 lakh 30 thousand crore. The remaining Tk 63,000 crore will come from revenue outside the NBR.
According to NBR sources, the revenue target for the current 2019-20 fiscal year was set at Tk 3,77,810 crore. Of this, the income through the National Board of Revenue is estimated at Tk 3 lakh 25 thousand 600 crore. Non-NBR revenue is estimated at Tk 14,500 crore. The target for non-tax revenue was Tk 37,710 crore. However, in the revised budget, the NBR's revenue collection target was slightly reduced to Tk 3 lakh crore. But even that is not being achieved.
Meanwhile, the global coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak has led to a collapse in all types of trade over the past few months. As a result, there has been a major negative impact on revenue collection. Experts warned this recession will continue next year. In this situation, the economists think that increasing the revenue collection target in the upcoming budget is unrealistic.
According to NBR sources, the target for revenue collection through NBR in the first nine months of the current 2019-20 fiscal year (July 19 to March 20) was Tk 221,000 crore. But at this time the revenue has been collected Tk 1 lakh 65 thousand crore. In other words, in the first nine months of the fiscal year, the government's revenue collection deficit is Tk 56 thousand crore. Experts think that this deficit will increase till next June.
Asked about this Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of CPD told The Business Post that every year there is a huge revenue deficit in the budget. Even then the government sets unrealistic targets. As a result, they have to take loan from bank, which is not desirable for a healthy economy. And this time the situation is completely different. The coronavirus has caused huge damage to the overall economy, and will continue to do so. It will take a few years to make up for it. As a result, the government should not be too ambitious in setting revenue collection targets in this year.
Asked about the revenue collection target, the former chairman of NBR, Mohammad Abdul Majid told The Business Post that most of the time the government sets a target and imposes it on the NBR and unrealistic targets are often not met. At present people have no income. As a result, even if a high revenue target is set in the forthcoming budget on paper, it does not seem to be possible to achieve it.
