Dharan Sub-metropolis faces challenge to meet revenue target

Published On: June 22, 2018 02:30 AM NPT By: Rohit Rai

DHARAN, June 21: Dharan Sub-metropolitan City of Sunsari district could not meet its revenue mobilization target of the current fiscal year. As the new fiscal year approaches, the metropolis faces immense pressure to enhance its revenue mobilization.

The sub-metropolis has started preparing policies, programs and budget for the new fiscal year. They are planning to achieve the revenue target by increasing revenue through taxes such as corporate tax, vehicle tax, advertisement tax, entertainment tax, cleanliness tax etc.

One major challenge the sub-metropolis faces is the lack of permanent income sources. “While tax is the main source of income, we have not been able to collect it efficiently,” said Bhesh Raj Adhikari, chief of the Revenue Policy and Economic Administration Division.

Along with local resources, the sub-metropolis is also collecting service tax among others, which is considered as temporary nature of income source.

Dr Rajendra Sharma, professor of economics, said it would be wrong to increase taxes with an intention to increase revenue.

“Such traditional way of increasing revenue should not be followed without a thorough analysis. There are lots of opportunities to increase revenue with permanent income sources.”

In the current fiscal year, Dharan had expected to collect Rs 130.5 million. However, as the fiscal year is nearing an end, the internal revenue collection stands at Rs 80.8 million. The sub-metropolis expects their total revenue to reach around Rs 100 million by the end of the fiscal year.

According to Manju Bhandari, coordinator of the Revenue Recommendation Committee, they have set the objective of mobilizing a revenue of Rs 160 million in the upcoming fiscal year.

“We are introducing plans to improve revenue collection. For this, we will enhance tax collection and improve our services,” said Bhadari.

Economist Sharma said the local units are not being able to efficiently utilize the rights given to them under the federal structure.

“There are many parks in Dharan from which taxes can be collected. The authorities have also failed to general substantial revenue from BP Institute of Health Sciences. Furthermore, they have also failed to strictly implement rent taxes,” he said.