Five per cent relief surcharge to be imposed on tax payers
Spokesperson Federal Board of Revenue Israr Rauf told a private a news channel on Wednesday that the surcharge will be imposed on people who were paying taxes on their income. “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 that the government of Pakistan in collaboration with World Bank and Asian Development Bank is working on demand need assessment report in to determine the exact situation of damage in the country. The report is expected to be completed in the 2nd month of the present month adding that when the exact ratio of damages would be revealed Government would try to cover the loss by utilizing foreign donations and its own revenue in the rehabilitation process but if the gap remains between estimated amount of relief and revenue then flood relief surcharge would be imposed on people. Referring to the progress made by Federal Board of Revenue in regard to tax collection he said that a campaign has been launched by FBR to bring more people in tax people who were previously exempted from the tax and to tab those people who were not paying the amount of tax levied upon them. Government would collect a net tax of more then 1340 billion rupees by the end of the present fiscal year with the hectic efforts of FBR on stuck up revenue, he added.The revenue collection till 24th August is seven per cent greater as compared to last year because the main source of revenue collection is major cities where multinationals are working. “Rural areas are mainly affected by the flood which destructed the infra structure but it did not have any major effect on revenue collection”, he said.