HYDERABAD: The state government is upbeat over robust commercial tax collections in the current fiscal 2021-22. Commercial taxes remain the major revenue generation source for the state government and contribute about 70 per cent of its total revenue earnings.
The data obtained from the commercial taxes department shows that the state government has already realised 73 per cent of the targeted commercial tax collections in the Budget 2021-22 in the first eight months of this fiscal itself (April- November) on the back of higher VAT collections on petroleum products and liquor. The government has set itself a target to achieve Rs 57,500 crore collection through commercial taxes. Of this, it earned Rs 42,159 crore by November 30, amounting to 73 per cent of the targeted collection.
With four more months (December-March) to go for the current fiscal to end, the government hopes to surpass the budgetary target on commercial tax collections. The data shows that in the previous fiscal (2020-21), the government clocked Rs 29,722 crore collection from March-November, which has now shot up to Rs 42,159 crore, a significant increase by 42 per cent.
The higher petrol and diesel prices last year besides increased liquor prices this year contributed to higher tax collections in the form of VAT. The VAT on fuel and liquor alone contributed Rs 8,602 crore and Rs 8,566 crore respectively to the state exchequer.
The other major contributors include SGST at Rs 9,222 crore, IGST Rs 8,882 crore, IGST settlement Rs 482 crore, GST compensation Rs 5,961 crore and others Rs 444 crore.
All these tax components witnessed significant increase in the same period last year when VAT on fuel and liquor fetched Rs 4,763 crore and Rs 7,070 crore respectively, while SGST contributed Rs 6,817 crore, IGST Rs 6,203 crore, IGST settlement Rs 2,638 crore, GST compensation Rs 1,726 crore and others Rs 505 crore.
The tax collections were impacted between April to June when there were lockdowns and business restrictions due to Covid second wave but recovered from July.
