THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government’s desperate mid-fiscal attempt to mobilise nearly Rs 2,000 crore extra-budgetary income is an open admission of the deepening fiscal crisis.
But at this moment of confession, the UDF government has something to cheer about. The latest revenue figures (up to July) put out by the Accountant General’s Office show encouraging signs of revival.
Sales tax, motor vehicle and even excise collections have turned healthier after May. The most heartening turnaround has been in the collection of sales tax, which constitutes nearly 80 percent of the state’s own revenues.
Till May, the growth was an alarmingly low 8-9 percent. June, too, disappointed with only 11.42 percent. But by July, the growth in collection shot up to 19.5 percent. Sales tax collection up to July
this fiscal is Rs 8,535 crore (last July it was Rs 7,589 crore).
Equally dramatic has been the revival of motor vehicle tax collection, which constitutes seven percent of the state’s revenue.
All through the ongoing fiscal, from April to June, the growth in collections was showing a negative trend when compared to last fiscal; -1.33 percent, -3.15 percent and -4.64 percent.
But in July it soared from the depths to achieve a healthy 16 percent growth rate. The collection till July (Rs 665 crore) now looks a tad better than the corresponding figure till last July (Rs 651 crore).
The trend in excise collections flies in the face of the government’s claim that the shutdown of 412 bars has affected revenues.
In April, the month the bars were shut down, the growth in excise revenue was a whopping 55 percent.
There was a mighty fall in May, when revenues were down by -18 percent when compared to collections in last May.
Excise revenues, however bounced back since June; in June the growth was 3.89 percent and in July it grew by 7.09 percent. Excise revenues constitute nearly eight percent of the state’s revenues.
