The Hindu : Front Page : Rs. 3,094-crore backlog in collection of commercial tax

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 14, 2006

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Front Page

Rs. 3,094-crore backlog in collection of commercial tax

Special Correspondent

Tax dues of public sector undertakings amount to Rs. 1,054.97 crores

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Commercial tax dues to the tune of Rs.3,094.01 crores are pending collection in the State as of now, according to data with the Finance Department.

In recent years, the tax officials had displayed little diligence in collecting old dues from taxpayers. Old dues collected came to Rs.62.05 crores in 2005-06 and Rs.60.42 crores in 2004-05, which means that the dues cleared annually come to just around 2 per cent usually. And bigger volumes newly get added each year to the backlog.

Of the total dues of Rs.3,094.01 crores, a sum of Rs.1,054.97 crores is from public sector undertakings. There are understandable limitations for the Government to collect these immediately.

According to Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, a sum of Rs.1,548.10 crores is `collectable' during the course of this financial year if the Government could get the stay orders issued by various courts and authorities vacated.

There has been no focused effort in the recent years to use the revenue recovery option also, he says.

There is even something shockingly amiss with the statistics relating to revenue recovery proceedings, according to Dr. Isaac. The Commercial Taxes Department puts the dues sent for revenue recovery proceedings at the level of Rs.2,191 crores.

However, the Revenue Department pegs the total amount at Rs.1,464 crores. The difference is a staggering Rs.727 crores.

"This calls for an immediate scrutiny of the data with both departments. We have to find out the exact position. All efforts to collect old dues will become a farce otherwise," he says.

Putting the records into order, prioritising cases based on recovery prospects, fixing responsibility and officer-level and office-level targets and constant review of the progress of the collection efforts are part of the strategy the department has charted out to optimise tax collection.

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