Revised indirect tax target to be met: New CBEC Chief

Says would achieve target of Rs 4,00,635 cr without tinkering with the tax rates

The growth in indirect tax collections fell to only eight per cent in October, to Rs 31,321 crore, against Rs 29,012 crore in the same month last year. Yet, the finance ministry is confident of meeting the year’s target of Rs 4 lakh crore , despite industrial growth plummeting to a two-year low of 1.9 per cent in September.

The new Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) Chairman S K Goel, today said the revised target of Rs 4,00,635 crore would be met without tinkering with the tax rates.

“We are moving as per the target of 15 per cent growth in indirect tax collections over last year. We are on the track. We will plug all the loopholes and achieve the target,” Goel told reporters in his first media interaction after taking charge.

According to the final data released today, customs and excise collections in October, this year, increased merely by 2.9 per cent to Rs 12,360 crore and five per cent to Rs 11,622 crore, respectively. Service tax collections, however, performed better by growing at 23.3 per cent to Rs 7,339 crore.

The growth in collections has come down from over 26 per cent in the first few months of this year. In April-October, the indirect tax mop up increased by 18.5 per cent to Rs 2,21,462 crore, against Rs 1,86,942 crore last year. This is about 55.3 per cent of the revised estimate.

In the Budget the government had set an indirect tax collection target of Rs 3,98,000 crore for 2011-12. However, in June it lowered duties on petroleum products, which meant a net loss of Rs 37,000 crore for the remaining part of the year. Later, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asked the revenue department to increase the target by 10 per cent to Rs 4,00,635 crore.

Asked whether the government would increase tax rates or bring more items under the tax net to offset the loss due to reduction in duties on petroleum products, Goel said if the government wanted to collect more than the target then it could raise tax rates. “If duties were not reduced collections would have been more. Now we will just realise the target,” he added.

The government had removed five per cent customs duty on petroleum crude, brought down the import duty on petrol and diesel from 7.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent, and on other petroleum products to 5 per cent from 10 per cent. It also abolished the Rs 2.6 per litre basic excise duty levied on diesel, sacrificing Rs 49,000 crore a year, to give some relief to oil marketing companies in the wake of rising crude prices.