‘State the sufferer as e-commerce firms escape tax net’

Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, on Wednesday, alleged that the State government had lost revenue to the tune of Rs. 1,500 crore to Rs. 2,000 crore in 2014–15 due to its failure to bring e-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart under the tax net, despite their flourishing business.

Participating in a debate in the Assembly on the State Budget, Mr. Kumaraswamy alleged that the State government had asked a senior bureaucrat in the Commercial Taxes Department to go on leave for trying to bring these companies under the tax net. Some senior Congress leaders had brought pressure on the government against bringing these firms under the tax net, he alleged.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said 132 e-commerce companies were operating in Bengaluru.

Similarly, the failure to prevent traders with deregulated licences to illegally transact had resulted in the State missing revenue of about Rs. 160 crore in the present financial year, he alleged. Also, the State lost revenue of Rs. 1,500 crore by not taking the auction route while sanctioning ‘C’ category mines to different firms, he said.

All this had resulted in tax collection falling short of the target by about Rs. 8,906 crore, he said.

Accusing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of failing to enforce fiscal discipline, he alleged that the State had borrowed Rs. 45,000 crore in the last two years alone.

‘State the sufferer as e-commerce firms escape tax net’

This has amounted to a revenue loss of over Rs. 1,500 crore, says H.D. Kumaraswamy.