Team Herald
PANJIM: The Commercial Taxes Department has exceeded its tax collection estimates for 2016-17 earning Rs 3124 crore. The revised estimates (RE) provided by the department had projected tax collections at Rs 3078 crore.
Speaking to Herald, Commercial Taxes Commissioner Dipak M Bandekar said, “At present the figures are provisional but the department has collected approximately Rs 3124 crore and the revised estimates target set for the year by the department was Rs 3078 crore, so we have crossed the target. However, these figures can still change and only by April end will the department be able to give correct figures.”
“At present for 2016-17, we cannot give details of the exact breakup of the taxes collected through, VAT, CST, entertainment, luxury and entry taxes as we have still not reconciled. The total is also provisional and can change, but by end of April, the figures will be clear,” Bandekar said.
On whether demonetisation affected collections, Bandekar said, “Demonetisation did not affect tax collections in any way. On the other hand revenue increased during that period and the department never went into minus. In December 2016 we collected Rs 236 crore of tax revenue but January 2017 there had been a rise in collection of tax to Rs 244 crore even after demonetisation. This shows that tax revenue has not been affected.”
However, it was revealed that in 2015-16, the department had collected Rs 2794.71 crore, which was slightly lower than the revised estimates provided by the department, which had projected Rs 2800 crore.
“In 2015-16, the total amount of tax collected was slightly lower as compared to the revised estimates provided by the department, which had projected Rs 2800 crore,” he added.
