ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs 134 billion revenue until August 26 against Rs 110 billion collected during the corresponding period of the last year, depicting a 20 percent increase in the tax collection, said Shahid Hussain Asad, the member of the Inland-Revenue and spokesman for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
“The sit-ins by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek entered 12th day and despite a civil disobedience call by Imran Khan, over 20 percent increase has been recorded in the revenue collection in August,” he said.
He said that unlike other economic indicators, the protests and sit-ins did not dent the tax collection efforts of the government in the current month.
He pointed out that overall economic situation had slowed down due to the political unrest. Asad said that the FBR had also collected Rs 138 billion till July 31, 2014, which was Rs 1 billion higher than the tax collected in the same period last year.
To question, the FBR spokesman said that civil disobedience call by the PTI chairman had negatively affected the foreign investment and economic situation in the country.
He added that the business community and traders across the country had rejected the civil disobedience call by the PTI chairman.
Asad said that the FBR was committed to broadening the tax net and has planned to issue notices to those who had not filed their tax returns.