News
Thursday, October 07, 2010
5 percent relief surcharge to be imposed on taxpayers
ISLAMABAD: The federal government is likely to impose five percent flood surcharge to help the flood victims.
Federal Board of Revenue spokesman Israr Rauf told a private a TV channel on Wednesday that the surcharge would be imposed on people who were paying taxes on their incomes.
“There would not be any new tax in the form of flood tax, it would rather be imposed as a surcharge to help the flood affectees,” he said.
He said the government of Pakistan in collaboration with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank was working on the demand-need assessment report to determine the exact situation of damage in the country.
The report is expected to be completed in the second week of this month, which was when the exact ratio of damage would be revealed.
The spokesman said the government would try to cover the loss by utilising foreign donations and its own revenue in the rehabilitation process, but if the gap remained between the estimated amount of relief and revenue, then flood relief surcharge would be imposed on the people.
Referring to the progress made by the FBR regarding tax collection, he said that a campaign had been launched by the bureau to bring more people in the tax net who had earlier been exempted, and to include the people who were not paying the tax levied on them.
The government would collect net tax of more than Rs 1,340 billion by the end of the current fiscal year with untiring efforts of the FBR on stuck-up revenue, he added.
Revenue collection until August 24 was seven percent greater as compared to the same period last year, as the main source of revenue collection is the major cities, which house several multinationals.
“Rural areas are mainly affected by the floods that have destroyed the infrastructure, but it did not have any major effect on revenue collection,” he said. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk