Jaitley Puts Disputes To Rest With Double-Digit Rise In Tax Collections


NEW DELHI: The currency squeeze in November and December has failed to impact revenue mop up, with direct and indirect tax collections from April to December showing double-digit increases, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday.

"Since there has been a considerable debate as to the impact of the currency squeeze in November and December, the revenue data becomes relevant. The direct tax collections for April-December period have increased 12.01 pct year-on-year," Jaitley told the media here.

"The indirect tax data for April-December (2016), compared to the same figure (in 2015), has seen an overall increase of 25 per cent.

"Individually, the central excise has shown a 43 pct increase, service tax 23.9 pct increase and customs duty has increased by 4.1 pct," he added.

Direct and indirect taxes for the first three quarters of current fiscal has moved up significantly, he said.

Jatiley said the demonetised notes had no role to play in the tax collections for December as people were allowed to pay taxes in the spiked currency only in November.

"In December, payment of taxes in old notes was not allowed," he said, adding that over 99 pct central taxes were paid digitally.

Indirect tax collections in December were up 12.8 pct over the previous month, during which the note ban was announced.

On a year-on-year basis, customs declined by 6.3 pct this December because gold imports during the period crashed, he added.

"However, central excise, related to manufacturing, has increased by 31.6 pct in December when compared to the same month last fiscal. Service tax during the month increased 12.4 pct."

Read Also:

Indian Equities Rise On Positive Global Cues

Paytm Gets RBI Approval For Payments Bank

Source: IANS