Punjab govt to amend Sales Tax Act to improve PRA efficiency: minister

LAHORE: Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman has said that the documentation of the economy was imperative and hence the provincial government will amend the Punjab Sales Tax Act to further improve the efficiency of the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA).

He expressed these views while presiding over a meeting of the Ministers’ Committee for Resource Mobilisation 2024-25 here on Friday. In the meeting, the proposals of the Board of Revenue and Punjab Revenue Authority were reviewed to increase the indigenous resources of the province.

The Minister averred that the Punjab government will also revise the Board of Revenue taxes (property and others), which were frozen for the last 15 to 20 years and directed the tax departments to arrange a formula under which the rate of taxes can be changed after a certain period.

He also said that the Punjab government will encourage plastic card payments (debit and credit cards) and other such means to pay taxes to the government. “Moreover, data sharing with the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) will ensure expansion in the tax net and increase in collections,” he said

On this occasion, the Additional Secretary Finance in his briefing on the performance of the tax departments informed the meeting that the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department and PRA collections are continuously growing while the Board of Revenue was facing difficulties in achieving its set targets despite all the efforts.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024