If inconsistent VAT collections over past six months are any indication, the AAP government is reportedly way off the mark to achieve its '2,400 crore target for the financial year 2015-16. The government had increased the VAT target by about '5,500 crore from the total collections of '18,554.91 crore it had raised in the previous financial year.
While the AAP government had made it amply clear to its officers that they should not go after the traders to raise VAT collections, little headway seems to have been made to increase the revenue collections in the national capital. In fact, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that his government was against “inspector raj” and wanted traders to come forward to deposit their VAT dues.
Figures show that the AAP government had succeeded in increasing VAT collections from Rs 946.86 crore in April last year to Rs1,475.03 crore in the corresponding period this year. But it was also able to generate 0.39 per cent less revenue in July this year in comparison to the corresponding period last year. A senior officer said that the VAT collections had registered a growth of 55.78 per cent in April this year in comparison to the revenue raised in the corresponding period last year primarily because the AAP government had asked the traders to deposit advance tax to boost its collections.
Except for May and August, the VAT collections have drastically gone down in June, July and September this year in comparison to the corresponding period in the previous financial year. The VAT collections were to the tune of Rs1,648.53 crore, Rs1,725.31 and Rs1,515.79 crore in June, July and September respectively last year. But the collections dropped to Rs1,534.96 crore, Rs1,718.65 crore and Rs1,551.22 crore respectively in the corresponding period this year.
A highly-placed source said that the AAP government is now going to give full mandate to newly-appointed VAT commissioner Sajjan Singh Yadav to set targets for his officers.
