Hry tops States in per capita revenue collection under GST: Abhimanyu

Haryana has topped the States in per capita revenue collection under GST and has become fourth highest generator of e-way bills in the country, said Finance Minister Abhimanyu on Wednesday.

The State’s per capita revenue collection under GST is the highest in the country at Rs 1,876 while Uttarakhand which is at second spot with Rs 1,436 per capital revenue, is far behind Haryana, said Capt Abhimanyu while talking to the mediapersons here, spelling out the achievements of his Department during the past three-and-a-half year tenure of the present government.

Haryana, he said, has widened the tax base by 82.22 per cent, logging 19 per cent hike in revenue collections.

“Post-GST, the compliance percentage in the state is 5-7 per cent higher than the national average. The revenue collection under commercial taxes has registered a double-digit growth,” the Minister said.

“GST being consumption-based tax, the state suffered a loss of about Rs 5,000 crore on this account. The state also lost the revenue of Rs 1100 crore on the foodgrains. Many of the consumer goods were taxable at the rate of 13.125 per cent under VAT. Most of these items have been placed in the tax slab of 18 per cent wherein the state's share is nine per cent. Therefore, it accounts for some loss of revenue to the state,” he admitted.

Despite all these factors, the collections under GST in the state have been sizeable and are showing increasing trend, Capt. Abhimanyu added.

While the number of tax assessees under VAT, Central Excise and Service Tax in Haryana was 2.25 lakh before the introduction of GST, the number of dealers today is about 4.10 lakh, he pointed out.

Capt. Abhimanyu said GST collected during 2017-18 (for nine months) averaged Rs 1,505.93 crore which increased to Rs 1,804.96 crore during the first three months of 2018-19, implying year-on-year growth of 19.85 per cent.

Introduction of 'One Nation One Tax' GST in Haryana has been very smooth. The state occupying only 1.4 per cent of the geographical area of the country has collected the fifth highest gross GST in the country, he said.

Giving details, Capt Abhimanyu said, “Around 12 crore e-way bills were generated in Haryana between April 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018, catapulting the state to the status of 4th highest generator of e-way bills in the country. The figures of revenue collection under the GST, CST, SGST, including other taxes subsumed later under the GST, are Rs 21,546.98 crore in 2015-16, Rs. 24,301.61 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 29,941.43 crore in 2017-18.”

CASES OF TAX EVASION

Asked about cases of tax evasion, the Finance Minister said that officers of the Excise and Taxation Department conducted physical checking of 1.10 lakh e-way bills, detected 3,358 cases of irregularities, and collected Rs 21.37 crore as penalty in the two months of April and May, 2018.

Rs 3,501CR tax GENERATED AS LICENSE FEE

Capt. Abhimanyu said, “During 2018-19, a total of 364 zones were allotted by way of e-tendering up to March 31, 2018. Total revenue of approximately Rs 3,501 crore has been realised as license fee by e-bidding of these 364 zones. The license fee of these zones realized this year is 13.44 per cent higher than the license fee received during the year 2017-18.”

“A revenue target for 2018-19 has been fixed at Rs 6,000 crore. In the first quarter, ended June 30, the Department has been able to realize the target of approximately Rs 2,021 crore. The corresponding figure for the first quarter of 2017-18 was Rs 1,649.47 crore,” he said.

RECOVERY OF OUTSTANDING DUES

Under ‘Haryana One Time Settlement Scheme for recovery of Outstanding Dues, 2017’,  outstanding dues of Rs 2,328.36 crore have been recovered from 1,954 dealers. This has also resulted into substantial drop in litigation, Capt Abhimanyu said. Under the Haryana Alternative Tax Compliance Scheme for Contractors, 2017, an amount of Rs 833.31 crore has been recovered from 201 dealers, he added.