The Hindu Business Line : Tax revenues decline in Oct

New Delhi, Nov. 28 After a consistent increase in a row for the last 63 months, the Centre’s gross tax revenues declined for the first time in October 2008 over October 2007.

This is according to the latest monthly accounts data of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

The last time there was a decline in Centre’s gross tax revenues in a month was in May 2003 at Rs 10,561 crore (Rs 11,698 crore).

In October 2008, the gross tax revenue stood at Rs 43,117 crore, lower than the Rs 45,197 crore recorded in same month last year. The drop in corporate and personal income tax collections in October 2008 had pulled down the overall tax revenues for that month, CGA data showed.

Differing numbers

However, the CGA numbers on corporate and personal income tax differ from the data available with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). According to the CBDT, the corporate tax collections in October 2008 stood at Rs 9,891 crore (Rs 8,545 crore). The personal income tax collections for October 2008 stood at Rs 9,817 crore (Rs 9,264 crore).

According to the CGA, corporate tax revenues in October 2008 stood at Rs 7,682 crore (Rs 10,170 crore). Personal income tax collections in the same month stood at Rs 7,702 crore (Rs 8,899 crore).

CGA data also showed that customs duty revenues in October 2008 stood at Rs 9,881 crore (Rs 9,685 crore).

While excise duty revenues for the same month stood at Rs 10,286 crore (Rs 9,815 crore), service tax collections stood at Rs 6,496 crore (Rs 4,892 crore).

Fiscal deficit

Meanwhile, the Centre’s fiscal deficit upto October 2008 this fiscal stood at Rs 1,17,070 crore, accounting for 87.8 per cent of the budget estimate of Rs 1,33,287 crore for 2008-09. At the same period the previous year, the fiscal deficit as a percentage of budget estimate for 2007-08 stood at only 54.5 per cent.

Revenue deficit for April-October 2008 stood at Rs 87,027 crore, accounting for 157.7 per cent of the budget estimate of Rs 55,184 crore.

The Finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, had recently said that the Centre was likely to overshoot the fiscal deficit target set for 2008-09.

He had also said that the Government may need one more year to achieve the FRBM target of eliminating the revenue deficit and containing the fiscal deficit to below 3 per cent of GDP.

Related Stories:
Direct tax collections up 4% in August
Net direct tax collections up 47% in April-July
Direct tax collections up 38.6% in Apr-June

More Stories on : Economy | Taxation

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