Vijayawada: The special drive for revenue mobilisation by the taxmen in Andhra Pradesh paid rich dividends what with the state registering 18.62 per cent cumulative growth in the third quarter of 2020-2021 fiscal.
The special drive included collection of arrears of Goods and Services Tax and Professional Tax. “Besides revival of demand, the most essential factor of economic activity, due to welfare initiatives, the special drive that fetched us Rs 1,073 crore helped us improve the overall revenues,” chief commissioner Piyush Kumar told Deccan Chronicle.
The department took up special drive between October and December last year during which period the tax collection was Rs 1,3692 crore against the target of Rs 12,308 crore. The state GST stood at Rs 8,164 crore, tax on petroleum products Rs 3,003 cr, liquor Rs 2,449 crore and professional tax Rs 74.62 crore.
Significantly, Andhra Pradesh is the only state to achieve a positive growth rate between June and December last year compared to all other Southern States which indeed registered negative growth rate. The growth of tax revenue in the State was 8.23 per cent between June-December over the corresponding period of last fiscal against negative growth of 0.79 per cent in Tamil Nadu, 1.79 per cent in Telangana, 2.53 per cent in Karnataka and 2.81 per cent in Kerala.
For the first time, the state also achieved a positive growth rate in tax revenue on liquor due to change in the strategy of procurement. “We took stringent measures to arrest smuggling from the neighbouring States. Besides, several brands of repute and which were of the choice of consumers earlier are back in sufficient supply,” pointed out special chief secretary, revenue, Rajat Bhargav. The restructuring of slabs in professional tax and a special drive to collect it from the organisations paid off, he added.
When it comes to the overall revenue collection till date in the current fiscal, the GST revenue was Rs 17,019 crore, tax on petroleum products Rs 7512 crore, liquor Rs 3,979 crore and professional tax Rs 158 crore. The taxmen in the state achieved 73 per cent of the targeted revenue of Rs 38,822 crore.
