Odisha Commercial tax collection up 14% in April-October

Collection buoyed by entry tax and value added tax that have registered rise of 21.02% and 15.09% respectively

The state government's commercial tax revenue has shot up 14.13 per cent in the April-October period of 2012-13 at Rs 6,163.10 crore as against Rs 5,399.99 crore clocked in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

The collection is buoyed by segments like entry tax and value added tax (VAT) that have registered rise of 21.02 per cent and 15.09 per cent respectively.

VAT rose from Rs 4,255.36 crore to Rs 4,897.64 crore while entry tax surged to Rs 822.90 crore from Rs 679.99 crore. But Central sales tax (CST) dipped 7.44 per cent from Rs 392.25 crore to Rs 363.05 crore. “CST revenue has been disappointing due to curbs on inter-state movement of iron ore. After the restrictive order of the state steel & mines department, sale of iron ore to other states has suffered,” said a source at the finance department. Through its resolution dated December 5 last year, the steel & mines department had imposed a special condition, making it mandatory for mine lessees without end-use plants, to sell at least 50 per cent of their extracted iron ore to state based consuming industries. In October alone, commercial tax collection stood at Rs 958.34 crore, a growth of 19.72 per cent over Rs 800.47 crore in the same month of last fiscal.

The overall commercial tax revenue has been targeted at Rs 13,176.09 crore in 2013-14.