Government targets 22 per cent growth in tax revenues

Thiruvananthapuram: The government proposes to achieve a growth rate of 22 per cent in tax revenue this financial year, Finance Minister T. M. Thomas told the Assembly on Friday.

Presenting the revised Budget for 2016-17, the Finance Minister announced a nine fold strategy to increase revenues.

These include elimination of corruption, expansion of tax net to include more traders, rationalisation of tax rates, modernisation and training of officials. Besides, internal audit will be strengthened along with speeding up revenue recovery and other legal measures. The government would also adopt a merchant-friendly approach along with emphasis on creating awareness among consumers and traders.

The Finance Minister said that the check posts would be integrated and modernised. Electronic weigh bridges, boom barriers, closed circuit television, electronic display boards and Radio-frequency identification and smart card technologies would be used in check posts.

Steps would be taken this year itself for setting up data collection and facilitation centres at Majeswaram in Kasaragod district and Muthanga in Wayanad district. Besides, a modern call centre to redress complaints would be set up in Commercial Taxes Department.  In addition, peer review system would be introduced to oversee tax assessment.

The Department also proposed introduced a revised version of the lucky VAT in which consumers upload their bills to win prizes.  This was expected to improve tax compliance.