AP CM asks officials to monitor tax revenues

Hyderabad, June 19 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today reviewed the revenue mobilisation by various departments at ameeting here and urged stepping up the collection to achieve the targets.

The overall revenue receipts for April and May 2007 was comparatively better than the corresponding period last year but the revenue of few departments like mines and geology, stamps and registration and transport fell below the proportionate target.

While the departments informed the Chief Minister that the decline in mobilisation was due to some temporary problems, Dr Reddy asked the officials to rectify the marginal fall during the coming months.

The Chief Minister was apprised that there was a comparative decline in the land registrations due to RBI restrictions on loans and also due to the hike in the bank interest rates.

Dr Reddy asked the Commercial Tax department to find out the reasons for shortfall in the revenue from taxes on petrol.

Andhra Pradesh was ahead of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat as far as Value Added Tax(VAT) collections were concerned.

The state registered 24.52 per cent growth from April-May 2007, compared to the corresponding period last year, whereas Karnataka registered a growth of only 17.93 per cent during the same period.

Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat recorded growth of 0.8 per cent,15.49 per cent,15.55 per cent, 8.21 per cent and 18.17 per cent respectively.

The Commercial Tax department would also consider VAT on software sales and exports, as it was being done in other states too after discussions with the IT companies on the suggestion of the Supreme Court.

Commercial Taxes Minister K Ramakrishna, Excise and Prohibition Minister J Ram Mohan Rao, Transport Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, Stamps and Registrations Minister M Ratnakar Rao and other top officials took part in the meeting.

UNI