"The relationship has soured. But that will not prevent us from landing axe against tax evaders, particularly firms that faked VAT receipts and tried to hollow out the country´s tax system from within," said Pun.[break]
Minister Pun, who inaugurated the weeklong Tax Campaign in the capital on Thursday, noted that the current revenue-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, which stands at around 15 percent, was too low and must be raised.
While urging the revenue officials to maintain integrity and uphold transparency in revenue administration, he also instructed them to plug leakages and collect more revenue than the set target.
"We had set revenue growth rate target of 20 percent when country was in uneasy situation. Things have improved now, hence, the revenue collections this year must surpass the set target," he said.
In the same note, Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota said Nepali economy was poised to see 5 percent growth this year as most of the economic indicators have improved over the first four months of this fiscal year.
"Apart from good agricultural output, revenue has grown strongly, liquidity crisis has ended and balance of payment is in surplus. Together, these reflect improvement in economic activities," said Baskota, launching the country-wide weeklong tax campaign on Thursday.
Despite various rosy indicators, Baskota, however, admitted that the performance of capital market and real estate sector were poor.
"Capital market is in red and the slump in real estate, which has investment of over Rs 215 billion, has posed threat to overall banking sector," said Baskota. He also stressed for further modernization and transparency in revenue system to lure more foreign investment in the country.
Rajan Khanal, director general of Inland Revenue Department said that the government was preparing to introduce new facility, whereby taxpayers would soon be able to settle their taxes at any banking outlets.
"They will not need to travel even to the tax offices," he said. Minister Pun released different guidelines relating to tax administrations on the day.
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