Kochi: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said that the government will take strict measures to prevent erosion of taxes without causing any inconvenience to traders and merchants. Speaking after inaugurating ‘Mission Ernakulam 2016-17’ on Tuesday, he said priority would be given for collecting the data of merchants who have defaulted in tax payments. “The focus will be more on collecting the details of habitual tax offenders instead of measures such as inspection of shops,” he said. The auditing by the internal audit department of the government and accountant- general for the past three years had shown that several merchant establishments were having tax arrears. The government had devised a scheme for collecting the arrears, he said.
Each tax official will be given a target of collecting Rs 1 lakh every day every week and the progress would be monitored by a superior official. Stressing the importance of Ernakulam district in the tax collection of the state, the minister said that out of Rs 38,628- crore commercial tax target, the contribution expected from Ernakulam was Rs 18,681 crore. A quantum jump had to be made in the additional revenue target from Ernakulam. The additional revenue target fixed for the district in Ernakulam is Rs 1,850 crore and Rs 213 crore for Mattanchery. But only Rs 28 and Rs 25 crore respectively was collected so far, he added. The Mission Ernakulam project has been launched to improve this collection.
