Chennai: A slew of reforms introduced by the present DMK government, under Chief Minister M K Stalin, led to the Commercial Tax collection going up by 47.10 per cent with the additional revenue going to the aid of the poor and the dispossessed by funding the plethora of new welfare schemes like the free bus ride for women in the State.
According to government data, the commercial tax revenue that stood at Rs 85,606.41 crore in 2020-21 went up to Rs 40,399.51 crore in 2023-24. The increase in revenue is attributed to the simplification of the tax procedures and the other reforms ushered in tax management for the benefit of the common people and the traders.
The DMK government introduced trade friendly tax procedures and the Samadhan scheme helped several traders who were in trouble. For the first time, a revenue loss analysis system was brought in through Big Data Analytics by signing a memorandum of understanding with the IIT Hyderabad.
That project led to the generation of an additional tax revenue to the tune of Rs 129.71 in the last four months, while the Traders Welfare Board, started during the tenure of M Karunanidhi as Chief Minister, in 1989 benefitted 8880 traders through the implementation of welfare schemes to the tune of Rs Rs 3.20 crore, the data revealed.
Under the Samadhan scheme, Rs 142.56 crore tax was waived for 1,15,805 cases with tax arrears less than Rs 50,000 and from cases with more than Rs 50,000 arrears, tax to the tune of Rs 247.98 crore was collected.
The DMK government spent Rs 62 crore for development of infrastructure in the Commercial Tax department by starting new offices, constructing buildings, purchasing vehicles, setting up flying squads with necessary supporting facilities.
The strengthening of infrastructure led to the department collecting an additional Rs 1095.93 crore through investigations and Rs 217.65 crore through the crackdown by the flying squads.
By setting up the tax review committee, the department earned an additional Rs 510.69 crore revenue through the Integrated Goods and Service Tax and many traders who suffered losses due to natural disasters and for other reasons like Covid-19 pandemic, the department had given tax exemptions and time to clear the dues.
‘My price list, my right’ was a scheme launched by the department to ensure that consumers were not overcharged by traders and that had created an awareness among the people who have become active in ensuring transparency in business and thus increasing the government’s revenue from tax collection.
