Tax revenues likely to cross five trillion rupees in India

New Delhi, June 17:

India’s revenues from corporate tax, income tax, custom and excise duties, and service taxes will touch Rs 580,816 crore (Rs 5.80 trillion or $143 billion) by 2009-10, according to a study.

Collections from corporate and service taxes as also income taxes would continue to be on the higher growth trajectory, said the study - “Tax Revenue: The Future Growth Path” - conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

“Service tax, which was imposed in 1994 with three services in its net, registered a growth of 9,200 per cent between 1994 and 2006-07. However, in 2006-07, the service tax was imposed on 106 services,” Assocham president Venugopal N. Dhoot said in a statement here Sunday.

The total revenue earned during 2006-07 from service taxes was Rs 381.69 billion. The study also noted that there has been an increase in tax compliance as a result of simpler tax administration and increased economic activities.

In 1992-93, the government collected Rs 78.88 billion worth of revenues from income tax, which rose to Rs 825.10 billion in 2006-07. And according to the chamber, this has been possible “due to better tax compliance and increased number of taxpayers and much lesser harassment from authorities concerned”.

Volumes of tax collection from excise and custom duties have also increased significantly - by 280 per cent.

“The excise duty’s share in the total tax revenue, which was 41.3 per cent in 1992-93, declined to 25.1 per cent in 2006-07. The customs duty’s share in the total tax revenue, which was 31.9 per cent in 1992-93, fell to 17.5 per cent in 2006-07, as a result of massive structuring on excise and customs,” Assocham said.

Increased economic activity coupled with growth in the number of industrial units has contributed to increased revenue collection from taxes.