With the widening of the taxation net, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will be facing a whole set of challenges for the upcoming fiscal year (FY23). NBR has not only been given the target of collecting more taxes, but it will also have to strengthen its service centres to support the tax-payers as millions of new tax-payers would be compelled to submit tax returns in the upcoming fiscal year.
Traditionally, tax officials with the NBR had set their own tax collection goals, but this year, the tax collection goal has been set centrally. Not only that, but the tax collection net has been widened as well, which means that theoretically, there should be more tax-payers this fiscal year than ever before.
While we welcome the ambition of the FY23 tax collection goal, setting our sights high is not enough; we also need to work on implementation. Our deficit has been growing year on year because the NBR has failed to reach their personally set tax collection goals, and now that the NBR is tasked with meeting centrally directed targets, this might cause further issues. Indeed, as the former chairman of NBR opined that a centrally set tax collection goal might not match the reality of the ground, the NBR has much to prove.
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As such, the authorities need to be pro-active about not only about planning, but especially implementation, especially as this has been an issue that has never seen any progress. A central oversight committee is an option to work with the stakeholders of the NBR, listening to their complaints and work with them for the generation of resources. The entirety of FY23 has to be observed and relevant changes to implementation have to be made for FY24.
The success of a plan doesn’t solely depend on its theoretical planning sessions. We need to step up our execution as well.