Kochi: After the initial surge in tax collection after the currency ban, the Corporation’s tax revenue has plummeted to bottom. There was an increase of more than 50 per cent in the daily tax collection during the second week of November when the civic body gave relaxation to the use of banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes for tax payment. A large per cent of tax defaulters cleared their dues using the scrapped notes which boosted the Corporation’s weak exchequer.
However, after the deadline for using old notes ended on November 30, the daily tax collection dipped to Rs 10 lakh per day as against the normal collection of Rs 25 lakh.
“The drastic decline in revenue collection will have a serious impact on the civic body’s functioning. At present, the average tax collection is in the range of Rs 10 to Rs 12 lakhs only. On Tuesday, the tax revenue was Rs 11 lakh while on Tuesday it was Rs 14.5 lakh which is grossly inadequate to meet the day to day requirements,” said T.J Vinod, deputy mayor and finance committee chairman.
During the days post-demonetization, the tax collection dipped to Rs 1.5 lakh, the lowest in the recent history of the Corporation. On the first day after the demonetization, the revenue collection declined to Rs 4.5 lakh. The next day, it further dipped to Rs 2.5 lakh and decreased to Rs 1.5 lakh on the third day.
“However, during the last six months, the civic body could collect an additional tax of Rs 12 crore when compared to the corresponding period last year,” he said.
If the dip in tax collection continues, disbursement of pension, salary, bill payments and other day to day affairs will be disrupted.
