Ruchika M Khanna
Chandigarh, July 31
Thanks to higher excise collection and a robust growth in the GST during the first quarter of AAP’s rule in Punjab, the state’s revenues have seen a jump of Rs 5,885.42 crore over the corresponding period last fiscal.
The revenue receipts in the first three months of 2022-23 are Rs 21,475.33 crore as against the total income of Rs 15,589.91 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal. This jump in tax collection has little to do with any major policy change or introduction of any new tax/cess. The only thing that seems to have worked is the plugging of loopholes in the tax net to boost the GST collection.
Information available with The Tribune shows that in the first three months of the AAP rule, the excise collection has helped the state realise
Rs 5,448 crore as licence fee for liquor, and excise duty collection is around Rs 1,549.49 crore. In the same period last year, the excise duty collected was Rs 1,408.38 crore.
The GST collection in April-June quarter this year is
Rs 4,553.27 crore, which is 22.16% of the Budget estimates for this fiscal. Last year, the GST collection in the first quarter was Rs 3,136.30 crore, just 19.6% of the total GST estimates as laid out in the Budget for 2021-22.
“In the Budget, our government had assured that the GST collection would increase by 27% over last year. We have managed to increase it by 28%. The system of collection has become strict, with the tax evasion being brought down,” Finance Minister Harpal Cheema told The Tribune.
The GST compensation, which was supposed to stop since June this year, may not impact the state finances as much this year as Punjab will receive around Rs 7,000 crore (compensation for first quarter and also as arrears of previous fiscal), if it stops.
But this will have an impact of Rs 14,000-Rs 15,000 crore per annum from next fiscal. From July this year to March 2026, the states will only get compensation cess, though the Centre has so far not sent any communication to Punjab that there will be no more compensation to states for taxes subsumed post the GST roll out.
Interestingly, the non-tax revenue collected by the state (regulatory charges, fee for licences, user charges for government services, interest on loans etc) have also gone up from Rs 758.76 crore last year to Rs 1,231.38 crore in the first quarter of the year. The grants-in-aid received from the Centre is also up from Rs 5,071.68 crore to Rs 8,310.89 crore.
However, the one thing that the AAP government will have to keep a watch on is curbing the expenditure. In the year’s first quarter, the revenue expenditure is up by Rs 5,554.55 crore over same period in 2021. The two major contributors to this increase are salary bill by Rs 1,242.96 crore and hike in interest payment on the huge loan of Rs 2.83 lakh crore by Rs 1,738.09 crore, than what was paid in first quarter of 2021.
Punjab’s revenue collection increases, so does expenditure
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