Advisor to Caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Finance and Energy and Power Mr. Himayatullah Khan on Wednesday visited Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) office. He was accompanied by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Secretary Finance Mr. Muhammad Ayaz. Director General KPRA Mr. Shah Mahmood Khan gave them a detailed presentation on the structure, working, and revenue achievements of KPRA with proposed way forward.
The DG KPRA informed that KPRA has contributed 71 percent of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s own source tax-revenue in the financial year 2022-23. Since 2017 KPRA’s revenue collection has increased by 180 percent which speaks for the performance and dedication of the KPRA team.
The Director General KPRA informed the Advisor on Finance and Energy and Power about the pending amounts of KPRA with FBR and other government entities which need efforts of the KP government for release of the outstanding amount.
The DG KPRA said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has so far paid Rs8 billion to KPRA under an MoU signed between KPRA and FBR for the cross-input adjustment and a total Rs10 billion is pending with FBR. The Advisor on Finance and Energy and Power stated that the government will take up the pending amount issue with the Federal Government.
The DG KPRA in his presentation intimated that KPRA has stretched its tax base and new sectors pertaining to services business have been bought under the tax net. When KPRA was established 93 percent of the tax was collected from telecom sector and now it has been reduced to 35 percent with corresponding increase in other sectors as the KPRA team has worked on the exploration of other sectors, the Director General of KPRA said.
Speaking at the occasion, the Advisor on Finance and Energy and Power Mr. Himayatullah Khan lauded the efforts of KPRA team and stressed on broadening of the tax base by exploring new sectors for tax collection. “We need to work on adding more and more sectors to our tax net because then we would be able to further reduce our tax rates without affecting our revenue collection.” He added that KPRA is no doubt playing a vital role in generating revenue for the province which is utilized in public uplift programs for the betterment and prosperity of the people. The advisor told the KPRA team to work on finding growth potential in those sectors which do not affect the poor population of the province. He cited the examples of oil and gas exploration sector, infrastructure development cess and security services where there might be potential for an increase in the revenue collection
