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Kathmandu Thursday June 21, 2001 Ashadh 07, 2058.
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Crash
program against tax defaulters launched
By Sudeep Shrestha
KATHMANDU, June 20 - In an
ultimate bid to accelerate the current pace of revenue mobilization, which is likely to
fall short of budgetary targets, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) initiated a crash program
with only a month remaining for the current fiscal year to end.
The program was launched amid
fears that the government would not be able to achieve the targeted revenue growth of 22
per cent as announced in the budget for the current fiscal year. The growth, as per the
latest figures, stands at 4 per cent short of the target, which stands at almost Rs 53
billion.
"The program was
launched because of the need to go into immediate action since quite an amount of revenue
is yet to be raised in a short period of time to meet the target," said a source.
Implemented since June 15,
the program aims at collecting the huge accumulated revenue arrears lying with big
business houses. In addition, it also seeks to widen the tax base by bringing new
industrialists and business houses into the revenue net.
The crash program apparently
comes at the initiation of the Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat who had publicly
expressed discontentment over the current rate of revenue mobilization recently.
Dr Mahat, in a meeting at the
MoF last month, had lambasted at tax officials for under-performance and had urged for
extra efforts to boost revenue collection. He had pointed that revenue collection has not
been up to the potential, despite the mobilization of the army at most customs points.
Top revenue officials are of
sanguine views that the latest program will aid in soaring revenue collection. Concerned
officials are expected to take stringent steps to ensure that maximum revenue is
collected.
Sources say that defaulters
identified during the implementation of the program will bear a more severe brunt than
they face during other times. "There will be no administrative and bureaucratic
laxness. Those firms operating against prevailing law or defaulting in tax payments will
be taken severe action," said an official quoting anonymity.
Officials informed The
Kathmandu Post that the MoF has given sweeping powers to the implementing bodies, to the
extent that they may even auction the assets of the accused firms, if need arises for
recovering the defaulted payment or fine.
The latest program is a more
stringent form of the drive that the three implementing bodies had initiated almost three
months back. RID, IAC and the Tax Department then had begun identifying and fining firms
operating without registration, defaulting in tax payments, or abstaining from submitting
the requisite documents to the concerned offices. |
