BENGALURU: Karnataka in July collected close to `10,000 crore GST, 45% higher than the same period last year. This is the highest amount recovered by any state for the month, as compared to other large states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and undivided Andhra Pradesh. Over the last few months, Karnataka has demonstrated that it is second only to Maharashtra in GST collection.
Some experts wondered whether Karnataka could have earned more revenues under the previous non-GST regime. They questioned whether GST has been useful now that it has been 61 months since it was adopted. Former National Finance Commission member Prof Govinda Rao said, “In Karnataka, there were no problems in 2017-18 and 2018-19, though GST did not turn out to be a money machine. After 2019-20, problems started, mainly because the technology platform had not stabilised. But the Centre’s compensation came to the rescue. The compensation at 14% was generous. From 2020-21 revenues fell as Covid struck and compensation was not paid fully.’’
Commercial Tax Commissioner C Shikha said, “While switching over to GST, a growth rate of 14% was anticipated and the gap was filled by releasing compensation. Karnataka has not lost anything in these five years. But major beneficiaries are the taxpayers as a multiplicity of taxes has gone.”