Till November-end, the Maharashtra government has managed to collect only 40 per cent of the State taxes. Finance Department officials, on the condition of anonymity, said the effects of demonetisation will be visible after the December figures come out.
According to the data available with The Hindu , except the sales tax and vehicle tax, the State has not witnessed a surge in the collection as compared to last year’s (see box).
One of the major areas where the State is lagging is land revenue tax. Compared to the collection of ₹763.42 crore in November 2015, the State has managed to collect only ₹616.57 crore, whereas it has set a target of ₹3,200.14 crore. Similarly, on stamp and registration fees, there is a marginal increase from ₹13,149.82 crore to ₹13,152.25 crore. The target is ₹23,547.66 crore.
The State is also lagging in the collection of service tax, taxes and duties on electricity, taxes on goods and passengers, and taxes and duties on commodities and services. In comparison to ₹2,844.30 crore in November 2015, the State has managed to collect only ₹2,574.74 crore as service tax. On taxes and duties on electricity, only ₹1,745.94 crore has been collected against ₹3,621.64 crore.
Finance Minister Sudhir Munguntiwar, however, said the collection of taxes in the ongoing fiscal is ₹1,800 crore more than what was in November 2015. “We are sure that the departments will achieve their target. Demonetisation will not have any adverse impact on the State’s tax collection. We will rather emerge as a stronger economy.”
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ashok Chavan said the State should have collected at least 66 per cent of the estimated taxes by November. “The whole picture points to the slowdown of economy and the demonetisation is only worsening the situation. If the collection of land revenue tax is so less, how do they even think of achieving the target?”
