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West Bengal is not opposed to the implementation of Goods and Services Tax, but it should not be at the cost of the State's revenue, State Finance Minister Amit Mitra said.
Most States would be subsumed into the GST once it comes into effect.
Mitra was addressing presspersons after a pre-Budget meeting with various chambers of commerce and small and medium enterprise associations.
“We stick to our stand. In principle we are not against the GST. But it should not be at the cost of losing out on our revenues,” he said.
Responding to a specific query Mitra said the objection to GST arises only when the State has to forgo revenues.
Mitra, however, did not respond to questions on who would represent West Bengal at the NITI Aayog meetings.
Revenue collection
Meanwhile, a senior official pointed out that the State was likely to fall short of its revenue collection targets. The projected revenue collection for FY-15 was pegged at Rs 45,000 crore.
Till January 2015, the State’s tax collections stood at Rs 35,000 crore.
“There’s likely to be some shortfall,” the official said adding that a major hit would be in entry tax collections.
Last fiscal West Bengal’s revenue collection stood at around Rs 40,000 crore.
According to sources in the State finance department, excise collections have increased by nearly 21 per cent, while VAT collections have seen a 14-15 per cent jump.
“Equally good” has been the collection of stamp duty, sources said.
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