ISLAMABAD - As like missing tax collection target, the government had also missed the non-tax revenue collection target during fiscal year 2016-17 mainly due to the non-reimbursement of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) from the United States.

The government had budgeted non-tax revenue collection target at Rs959.5 billion for the previous year. However, the government had generated Rs901.6 billion under non-tax revenue collection making a shortfall of around Rs58 billion. Similarly, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had also missed the tax collection target by Rs260 billion as it collected Rs3,362 billion during the year 2016-17.

Therefore, the country’s budget deficit had recorded at Rs1.86 trillion during last financial year due to missing of tax collection and non-tax revenue collection targets by wide margin. The country’s expenditures were recorded at Rs6.8 trillion (21.3 percent of the GDP) as compared to revenues of Rs4.9 trillion (15.5 percent of the GDP), taking the deficit to Rs1.86 trillion (5.8 percent of the GDP), according to the documents of the Ministry of Finance.

In non-tax revenue collection, Pakistan had received only Rs67.75 billion as defence receipts (CSF) from the US as against the originals estimates of Rs170.75 billion during last fiscal year. The government’s revenue from the share of surplus profit of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had also reduced to Rs227.8 billion from Rs280 billion estimated in the budget of the previous year.

According to the documents of the Ministry of Finance, the government collected Rs99.7 billion as mark-up on public sector entities, Rs69.7 billion as dividend, Rs20.1 billion as passport fee and Rs9.1 billion as discount remained on crude oil, Rs53 billion as royalties on gas and oil, Rs1.64 billion as windfall levy against crude oil and Rs305.7 billion through other sources.

The documents showed that Pakistan’s tax to GDP had increased to 12.45 percent during the fiscal year 2016-17. Collection of taxes by federal and provincial authorities increased to Rs3,969 billion during the last fiscal year. Meanwhile, the federal government’s tax collection rose eight percent to Rs3,647 billion during the previous fiscal year 2016-17.

According to the documents, the FBR had missed the tax collection target by Rs260 billion, as they collected Rs3,361 billion as against the target of Rs3,621 billion for the last fiscal year. The last year’s collection was, however, eight percent higher than Rs3,112 billion collected during 2015-16.