Lockdown impact : Odisha tax revenue slips 37% in Apr-June quarter, GST collection drops 34%
\Bhubaneswar: The Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown have severely impacted Odisha’s tax revenue in the first quarter of the current financial year. The state’s tax revenue has declined by 37 per cent to Rs.2960 Crore as against Rs. 4708 Crore in the first quarter of 2019-20 financial year, according to the data released by the state Commisionerate of commercial tax and GST.
The GST revenue has 34 per cent to Rs.2126 Crore from 3239 Crore in Q1 of FY20. Total state tax revenue under GST and subsumed acts which comprise of GST revenue along with VAT & CST on GST goods, OST, entry tax and entertainment tax, has declined by 33 per cent to 2165.59 Crore as against Rs.3227 Crore in the Q1 of last year.
Meanwhile, the state tax which includes VAT and CST on non-GST goods has dropped by 48 per cent to 743 crore in the 1st quarter as against Rs.1430 Crore in the Q1 of last year.
The squeezing state coffer is likely to affect the state government’s welfare measures in the coming months. The state government has already announced strict austerity measures which include measures like restriction on new recruitments, ban on tours of officials by air and 1st class rail ticket and purchase of new vehicles and other expenses.
In India, the state’s own revenue mainly comes from state GST (SGST), state VAT (mainly petroleum products), state excise (mainly liquor), stamps and registration fees, tax and duty on electricity, vehicle tax, and own non-tax revenue. But due to the lockdown, closure of businesses, transport sector, not only Odisha, all the states have registered limited collection in each of these categories.
