Ahmed Khan Malik

The governance and policy project adopted by the Balochistan government has improved tax collection since its inception a few years ago, as the province was not collecting the required funds to meet its growing financing needs. The project was initiated with the financial assistance of the World Bank. According to the policy paper of the project, its objective was to strengthen the capacity for collection of sales tax on services (STS) and improve accountability in the public financial management and public service delivery in the education and irrigation sectors. The project comprises four components and has yielded positive results. The previous year’s collection of tax itself speaks volumes for the improvement in tax collection, as the government collected Rs30 billion in tax revenues in FY23, surpassing the project-end target of Rs12 billion. “The collection for the current fiscal would be further higher when the year closes on June 30, 2024, officials associated with the project told WealthPK. The Balochistan Revenue Authority (BRA) has registered 7,579 taxpayers, an increase of 19 percent over the last year. On average, 72 percent of registered taxpayers filed returns against the target of 60 percent.

This improvement came after the provincial revenue mobilization strategy (tax and non-taxes) was designed and approved, Shahid Gichki, Director of Policy Implementation, told WealthPK. He said the e-stamping system was designed, and e-payment system was functional for the collection of sales tax. Other than tax collection, he said the provincial departments has uploaded their procurement plans on the website of Balochistan Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, which will help improve transparency. A total of 34,169 assets have been geo-tagged in eight divisions and 33 districts of the province. This data is linked with the digitized system of Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and can potentially be used to inform the design of future development program. He said the provincial ombudsman has resolved 78 percent of complaints, disposed of 1124 cases out of a total of 1450 cases registered against the target of 70 percent.

Mustafa Buledi, Director of Finance, said integrity risk audits have been conducted for five high spending departments (including agriculture and cooperatives department; communication, works, physical planning and housing department; education department; health department; and police department). Sector profiling and regulatory mapping of five productive sectors, including (i) livestock, (ii) fisheries (iii) agriculture (iv) mines and minerals and (v) tourism, have also been completed. He noted that a mix of local and international trainings were provided in areas such as taxation law, rules for withholding tax under services sales tax, PFM, public procurement, project management, M&E, gender awareness, and communication. In addition, a capacity needs assessment has been completed for BRA, Board of Revenue, and Excise Taxation and Anti-Narcotics Department, which will be useful for designing training programs for these organizations.

Credit: INP-WealthPk