As taxes dry up, Goa staggers payments

PANAJI: Faced with acute funds crunch and a 90% drop in tax mop up due to the lockdown in April, the state government has been left with no choice but to stagger payments. From maintenance grants for aided schools to payments to contractors, temporary workers and non-essential disbursements, have all been put on hold.
While the state’s GST collection for April dropped to Rs 32 crore against the expected Rs 338 crore, a mere 9% of the projected earnings, it has a committed expenditure of Rs 60 crore per month towards salaries, government provident fund, gratuity and group insurance.
In March, GST collections witnessed a 19% drop at Rs 316 crore against Rs 389 crore compared a year ago.
The state has yet to collate figures for VAT, excise, stamp duty and other duties but with a near lockdown imposed in Goa, finance department officials said only 10% of the monthly taxes would have been collected.
“With lower revenue, budgeted expenditure will now be dependent on the revenue receipts,” said a government official.
Officials said that VAT on fuel and alcohol has declined drastically due to the lockdown and closure of tourism. Tourists account for 40-50% of alcohol sales in the state but since March 22, there has been no alcohol sale till May 3.
With the government departments also closed for public, stamp duty collection and registration fees have also dried up.
To mop up some revenue, the Goa government had hiked VAT on petrol from 21% to 25% in mid-April.
On May 4, TOI had front-paged a report stating that the government plans to curb non-essential expenditure and plug revenue leaks due to severe financial crunch.
The finance department is now exploring immediate measures to augment revenue to meet its committed expenditure in the coming months.