In 8 months, tax revenue in October surpasses last year’s earnings in Haryana

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 30

For the first time in the last eight months, the monthly tax revenue in October in Haryana is more than last year, when month to month comparison is made, that too by 34.4 per cent.

Otherwise, the state’s economy under the shadow of Covid was recording diminished tax revenue each month when compared to the previous year.

According to Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s monthly indicators, Haryana earned Rs 5,108.78 crore as tax revenue in October this year, which was 34.4 per cent higher than what it was in the corresponding period in 2019-20, when Rs 3,799.90 crore was earned.

The tax revenue comprises goods and services tax (GST), stamps and registration, land revenue and sales tax, which includes earnings from sale of petrol and diesel, excise duties and state’s share of union taxes.

Officials say it has to be seen whether the growth is consistent. They inform that higher earnings are also due to the fact that the GST compensation from the Centre has come, share of the Centre’s taxes has been received, sales of goods which was on hold for previous months have taken place and tax returns have been filed.

The overall tax revenue of the last eight months (April-October) this year is still 18.9 per cent lower than what it was in 2019-20. The borrowings and other liabilities have risen to Rs 18,668.11 crore till October this year.

“It is too premature to say that the state will do better than last year. Because, if it has received pending payments from the Centre and that is being reflected, then growth is not real. The growth in stamps and registration in October could be due to the fact that pending property deals might have come for registration,” said Prof Upinder Sawhney, Department of Economics, Panjab University (PU).

According to the CAG’s provisional figures, in October this year, Rs 2,564.39 crore GST has been recorded while in the corresponding month last year it was Rs 1,374.28 crore. It implies a rise of 86.6 per cent.

The same is the story of earnings from stamps and registration where Rs 539.09 crore was recorded as revenue in October while in the corresponding period last year it was Rs 488.09 crore. Here, a rise of 10.4 per cent was noted.

There is a jump of 11.8 per cent in sales tax, as Rs 779.53 crore was earned in October this year while it was Rs 697.28 crore in the corresponding month last year. In excise duties, state earned just Rs 484 crore in October of 2019-20 but this year, it jumped to Rs 626.26 crore, which is a rise of 29.4 per cent.

However, in the non-tax revenue, which includes collections from mining, transport, external development charges (EDC), in October also there was lesser collections just like in previous seven months, when month to month comparisons with previous year are made. Overall, there is a shortfall of 49.2 per cent in April- October when compared to the corresponding period of 2019-20.