In spite of a slew of initiatives by the West Bengal government to increase tax collection, the state is likely to miss the projected revenue growth.
Commercial tax collection till the month of January 2012 has been just a tad above the half of projected tax collections for the whole year. Till last month, the commercial tax collection in West Bengal was around 18 per cent more when compared to the same period last year, against the projection of around 31 per cent for the whole year.
So far the total commercial tax collection in the state has been close to Rs 11,800 crore, against Rs 10000 crore in January 2011. For the financial year 2101-11, the total commercial tax collection in West Bengal was Rs 13,368 crore, said Binod Kumar, commissioner, commercial taxes, government of West Bengal.
“We are trying our best to meet the target. We are moving towards a trust-based compliance. The tax compliance has increased as dealer registration has gone up,” said Kumar.
Last August West Bengal has introduced a slew of tax reforms by starting an e-governance initiative in the commercial tax directorate.
The e-enabled system was set to minimise human interference and eliminates corruption to a great extent. The state imposed higher taxes per lottery draw, against zero tax earlier, translating into an additional monthly income of Rs 5 crore.