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Rise in direct tax mop-up

Our Bureau

MANGALORE, Aug. 13

THERE has been an overall increase of 76 per cent in the net collection of direct taxes during the first four months of the current year compared to the corresponding period last year, according to the Union Minister of State for Finance (Revenue), Mr. V . Dhananjaya Kumar.

Addressing a press conference , Mr. Kumar said the total collection of direct taxes during the four-month period from the beginning of the current financial year up to July 2000 amounted to Rs. 12,866.98 crores, surpassing the Rs. 7,310.98 crores collect ed during the same period last year. Of this, there has been a 113.91 increase in the collection of corporate tax from Rs. 2,420.16 crores to Rs. 5,176.96 crores - a quantum increase of Rs. 2,756.80 crores.

Collection of income-tax also rose from Rs. 5,133.28 crores to Rs. 7,595.53 crores, an increase of Rs. 2,462.25 crores (47.97 per cent). The quantum of expenditure tax collected also increased by Rs. 7.57 crores from Rs. 76.02 crores to Rs. 83.59 crores, an increase of 9.96 per cent.

There has also been an overall 11.87 per cent increase in the collection of indirect taxes. While the Budget estimates for 2000-2001 projected a total revenue collection of Rs. 1,27,569 crores for the whole year, the collection up to July 2000 was to the tune of Rs. 36,362 crores (28.5 per cent of the Budget estimates) compared to Rs. 32,504 crores till July 1999.

Collection of Customs duty rose by 10.69 per cent from Rs. 14,232 crores to Rs. 15,754 crores up to July 2000, which forms 29.14 per cent of the total budget estimate of Rs. 53,572 crores. There has been a 12.09 per cent increase in Excise collections fr om Rs. 17,341 crores to Rs. 19,437 crores - 27.39 per cent of the total Budget estimate of Rs. 70,967 crores. Service tax collections have also risen by 29.28 per cent from Rs. 664 crores to Rs. 858 crores - 39.02 per cent of the Budget estimate of Rs. 2 ,200 crores.

The Minister also said that the Government would undertake a `special drive' to collect `pending taxes' to the tune of Rs. 61,000 crores of which Rs. 16,000 crores is currently `locked up' in `appeals at various levels'.