The Balochistan government has undertaken a project of e-stamping as part of its efforts to ensure transparency in matters related to revenue collection. In this regard, the Board of Revenue Balochistan has signed an agreement with the Bank of Punjab. “This is a service-level agreement to initiate the e-stamping project to automate this critical service for the benefit of the citizens,” said Roshan Ali, a senior member of the board. He said that it aligned with the government of Balochistan’s vision of promoting digital services and ensuring ease of doing business in the province. “Embracing the power of technology, citizens can now obtain stamp papers effortlessly within minutes at the click of a button on their mobile thanks to a seamless process offered by the Bank of Punjab,” he said and added that the e-stamping project would enhance revenue collection while providing complete data reconciliation. “Balochistan massively depends on federal receipts from the Federal Divisible Pool and Straight Transfers and Grants to run the government. Federal Divisible Pool accounts for 72% of the total receipts and is protected under the 18th Amendment of the Constitution.

The province’s own receipts are scarce, making only around 15% of the total receipts. The non-development expenditure of the government, such as pensions, have been piling up at an increasing pace and the government is keen to maximise mobilisation of its own revenues by exploring new avenues for increasing tax net and tax base,” explained Ali. “The government collects different types of direct and indirect taxes through its departments/authorities. The pool of provincial tax revenues largely comprises sales tax on services, Balochistan infrastructure cess, motor vehicle tax and property tax, while the regulatory functions performed by the provincial government and rates and fees charged for the provision of certain social and economic services constitute the non-tax revenue,” Murad Magsi, a director in the provincial revenue board, said. However, he said that for the purpose of clarity, grants received from the federal government, foreign funds, and development surcharges on gas and royalties on oil and gas were excluded from the provincial non-tax revenue.

He said that the development of an e-stamping system would introduce efficiency and plug leakages in collections from stamp duty. He said the board of revenue collected agriculture income tax, property tax, land revenue, capital value tax on immovable property and stamp duty. He said that the agricultural income tax continued to pose challenges due to the undocumented nature of the agrarian economy and the practical difficulties of implementing an assessment-based taxation regime. However, he hoped that with the automation of revenue record, provincial authorities were optimistic about the growth in the agriculture income tax to support the revenue requirements of the province.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)