Gross direct taxes collected during April-December 2013 rose 12.33 per cent to Rs 4,81,914 crore. Out of this, gross corporate taxes collections were up 9.35 per cent to Rs 3,10,126 crore and the personal income tax mop-up increased by 18.53 per cent to Rs 1,67,589 crore, according to official data released on Monday.
Securities Transaction Tax (STT) collections stand at Rs. 3,427 crore, showing a growth of 4.04 per cent. Wealth Tax collections posted a growth of 11.92 per cent at Rs. 742 crore.
The government had fixed the direct tax collection target in the Union Budget of over Rs 6.68 lakh crore for 2013-14, aiming for a growth of 19 per cent over the collections in 2012-13.
The slower-than-target growth will make Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s task of keeping the fiscal deficit, or the excess of the government’s spending over its revenues, within the target of 4.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) tougher. Mr. Chidambaram has said that the government will not allow the fiscal deficit target to be breached.
