Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said the state has registered an increase of 16.5 per cent and 20.87 per cent in revenue from Goods and Services Tax (GST) and excise, respectively during the first four months of the financial year 2023-24. The state's GST collection stood at Rs 6,810.76 crore, and the mop-up from excise was Rs 3,033.78 crore during the April-July period of the current fiscal.
Besides, it collected Rs 2,348.55 crore from Value Added Tax (VAT), Rs 76.91 crore from CST (central sales tax) and Rs 52.71 crore from Punjab State Development Tax (PSDT) during the first four months of this financial year, Cheema said in a statement issued here. He said the total revenue of Rs 11,037.17 crore was collected from these sources till the end of July 2022. In the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the state had received revenue of Rs 5,846.31 crore from GST, Rs 2,772.08 crore from excise, Rs 2,286.32 crore from VAT, Rs 80.84 crore from CST and Rs 51.62 crore from PSDT.
So far this year, a total of Rs 12,322.71 crore has been mobilized, which is 11.65 per cent higher as compared to the revenue collected during the year-ago period. Referring to the Tax Intelligence Unit (TIU) and other technical and administrative reforms, Cheema said while the GST mop-up has recorded a 16.5 per cent increase during the current financial year, there has been an increase of 36.07 percent in the revenue received from GST in July this year as compared to July 2022.
"The tax department is making significant strides towards better use of technology to facilitate honest taxpayers and crack down on tax evaders," Cheema said. In order to ensure more tax compliance, the finance minister said that a new mobile app will be released soon under the 'Bill Liao, Inam Pao' scheme to reward fair invoicing practice in the state.
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