THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The total revenue of the State Taxes Department (now GST Department) rose 11.19 per cent, to R37,849.56 crore during the fiscal ended March 31, 2018 — the first year of GST implementation. Of this, the GST revenue stood at R13,967.70 crore, R2,508 crore of which came as compensation from the Central Government for the revenue loss due to the initial setbacks in switching over to the GST regime.
Collections from the GST showed about 15 per cent increase when compared to the previous year’s figures under the value-added tax regime.Kerala General Sales Tax, taxes on petroleum and liquor, the second major contributor to the department’s revenue, was R16,767.51 crore in the period under review. It showed a nominal rise of 1.71 pc compared to the 2016-17 fiscal due to the transition of several levies, including lottery and luxury taxes from KGST to GST.
Though the growth rate without compensation is too low, the GST Department is of the view that it owes more from the Centre as IGST share, the state’s share for inter-state supply of goods and services. As per the state’s claim, its IGST share should be at least R500 crore more than the current figures.Besides the Taxes Department, the other sources of the state’s tax revenue like stamps and registration fees, state excise duties and motor vehicles tax were on an upward trajectory.
The Registration Department collected a record Rs 3,160 crore in the fiscal as stamp duty and registration fees. Revenue in the 2016-17 FY was Rs 2,654 crore. The Excise Department’s revenues rose to Rs 2,190.28 crore in 2017-18 FY as compared to the previous fiscal’s Rs 2,007.85 crore. However, the revenue is far below the Rs 2,248.83 crore recorded in 2012-13, after which the government’s liquor policy was changed and revenues nosedived.
The gross revenue of the Motor Vehicles Department until February 2018 was Rs 3,308.95 crore. Even the February figure had crossed the previous fiscal’s total earnings of Rs 3,026.42 crore.
Vehicle registration showed 11 per cent growth in the 2017-18 fiscal. The total number of vehicles registered until March was 1.13 crore as against the previous fiscal’s 1.10 crore.