Chennai: The surcharges levied by the government upon different taxes tripled in the past two years to a total of Rs 1.39 lakh crore in FY24 against Rs 40,758 crore in FY22. Surcharges on income tax saw the highest growth of 720 per cent in two years and 580 per cent in FY23 against FY22.
The Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance in a RTI query said that the Centre has received Rs 1,39,200 lakh crore as surcharges in the financial year FY24. The total surcharge revenue was 241 per cent higher than the amount collected in FY22.
The surcharge revenues from income tax and corporate tax saw a jump in FY23. The actual collection from surcharges in the fiscal year 2021–22 was around Rs 40,758 crore and in FY23 it went up 207 per cent to Rs 1,25,196 crore.
Of the surcharge revenue received in FY24, that from corporate tax accounted for Rs 59,000 crore and that from income taxes other than corporate tax stood at Rs 65,000 crore. The social welfare surcharge under customs duties garnered Rs 15,200 crore.
The surcharge revenues went up sharply in FY23 against the previous year. The corporate tax surcharge was up by 246 per cent from Rs 15,890 crore in FY22 to Rs 55,103 crore in FY23. The surcharge revenue from income tax other than corporate tax grew the fastest by 580 per cent from Rs 7,922 crore in FY22 to Rs 53,914 crore in FY23. In the past two years, this surcharge revenue has gone up by 720 per cent.
The social welfare surcharge on customs duties was marginally lower at Rs 16,178 crore in FY23 against Rs 16,948 crore in FY22 and has further come down in FY24.
The share of cesses and surcharges was 8.16 per cent of gross tax revenue in 2011–12 and it went up to 28.08 per cent of gross tax revenue in FY22. It has further shot up in FY23 and FY24, going by the numbers. Apart from GST compensation cess, revenue collected through cesses and surcharges are not distributed to the states and are spent by the Centre.
Several state governments have expressed their displeasure on the growing share of cesses and surcharges in the gross tax revenue, which is making their share from the divisible pool smaller.
Earlier in 2023, the finance ministry's data presented in Parliament indicated that Rs 99,000 crore collected through cess and surcharges would go unutilised in FY24. This was significantly more than the Rs 58,000 rupees that went unused in 2021-22.
However, the department has not replied to the query on unused funds at the end of FY24.
