Sindh Excise and Taxation department has so far collected more than Rs 23 billion till May 31, officials said.
Sindh government officials had fixed a tax collection target Rs 28 billion for the excise and taxation department for the current fiscal year. According to official documents obtained by this correspondent, the department collected Rs 3,159.955 million in the head of Motor Vehicle Tax, Rs 2,726.727 million in the head of Excise Enactment, Infrastructure Cess worth Rs 16,032.523 million, Infrastructure Cess and utilised amount of bank guarantees worth Rs 2,246.388 million and Rs 135.958 million of Cotton Fee.
The department collected Professional Tax amounting to Rs 234.634 million, hotel tax worth Rs 142.541 million, property tax worth Rs 1,338.105 million and entertainment duty worth Rs 27.31 million. Director-General of the Excise and Taxation department Shoaib Siddiqiue said that the department would achieve its target by the June 30 this year.
He said that the department was moving forward towards greater transparency, adding that six more taxes, including Excise Duty, Cotton fees, Professional tax, Hotel tax, Property tax and Entertainment tax, have been made computerized from April this year.
"Motor vehicle tax and infrastructure cess are already online and these have been upgraded in this financial year. The province would get more than double revenue through Excise and Taxation department within the next three financial years," he said. He said that all this had been made possible as a result of extraordinary support extended by the Sindh government.
He said that the department had achieved its collection target of Rs 10.579 billion in FY 2007-08, Rs 16.009 billion in FY 2008-09, Rs 17.399 billion in FY 2009.10, Rs 19.903 billion in FY 2010-11 and Rs 28.282 billion in the previous financial year.
He said that the department was working to upgrade motor vehicle tax, adding that after it was implemented, recoveries under this head could be made online from all districts of the province. Citing official data, he said that there were more than 3.9 million vehicles, including private and commercial four-wheelers, motor bikes and others in the province.