Bhubaneswar: Revenue from stamp duty and registration fees has fallen by 39 per cent up to September of the current fiscal in comparison with the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
According to a Finance department report, the state had collected Rs 812.68 crore till September 2016, while the collection up to September this year stands at Rs 496.74 crore.
Similarly, land revenue collection has also dipped by 13.77 per cent during this period. The collection up to September 2017 was Rs 153.48 crore, against Rs 177.99 crore during April to September of the previous year.
Reason behind reduction in revenue collection might be Goods and Services Tax (GST) or slowdown in the mining sector, official sources said.
Even though liquor has been put out of the purview of the GST, it may impact the excise revenue of the state as GST has been levied on all the fees collected from different excise products like IMFL, beer, country liquor, Mahua, bhang and other items.
As any fee collected will attract 18 per cent of GST, the government estimated that about 27 per cent of the collection will go as GST. The state has collected Rs 2929 crore as excise revenue during 2016-17, of which Rs 773 crore have been collected as fees, which will attract GST of Rs 139.11 crore.
There will be impact on entire supply chain of excise products. To mitigate the issue, the Telangana government has termed the fees collected for bars, liquor outlets and others as excise tax.
While excise duty does not attract GST, the officials are looking into that angle, whether to convert fees into duty. This was discussed at a high-level meeting under the chairmship of Chief Secretary held recently. However, so far no concrete decision has been taken, a senior official of Excise department said.
Legal experts are also being consulted and soon the department of excise will take a final call in the matter, said the official.
The government has targeted to collect Rs 3,600 crore during 2017-18, of which Rs 1,415.55 crore has been collected till September.
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