VAT surprise: More moolah
Three months after the value added tax (VAT) system was introduced amidst controversy in Delhi, the government has reaped rich returns.
Putting naysayers on the back foot, the department has collected Rs 478 crore for June 2005.
This is 30% higher than sales tax collection under the previous tax regime for June 2004.
Incidentally, only 6,000 traders whose annual income is above Rs 5 crore have filed their returns as opposed to 15,000 traders who filed monthly returns last year.
Department officials expect to rake in the moolah when all 1.5 lakh registered traders will file returns next month.
“Our monthly collections are up by 30% while the cumulative collection has increased by about 25% from Rs 1207 crore for April-June 2004 to Rs 1509 crore in 2005 so far,” R K Verma, sales tax commissioner said.