BHUBANESWAR: The impact of global meltdown is being felt in the tax revenue collection of the State.
The growth of tax revenue which was 36.25 per cent in the first quarter has come down to 26.55 per cent in the second. Sources maintained that there are hard times ahead.
The impact on the growth was witnessed from December last year.
While the growth rate of central sales tax (CST) was minus 53.8 per cent, value added tax (VAT) increased by only 8.32 per cent in December.
Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting at the Secretariat today.
The tax revenue till December last was Rs 3,646.75 crore, a marginal growth from Rs 3,629.08 crore till December, 2007. While CST till December was Rs 397.8 crore, entry tax collection up to that period was Rs 443.34 crore.
Sources maintained that if the negative growth rate continued, it will be difficult to achieve the tax revenue for the year. The tax revenue target was fixed at Rs 5,100 crore in the 2008-09 budget. Ghadei asked the officials to strive hard to achieve the target during the financial year.
Besides the meltdown impact, populist schemes launched by the State Government including the Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme and the Sixth Pay Commission salaries have put added burden on the State exchequer.
Source: http://www.expressbuzz.com
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