Karnataka-Goa clocks highest growth rate in I-T collection

BENGALURU: Here's a feather in Karnataka's cap. Direct tax collection in the Karnataka & Goa region of the I-T department grew at 33% in the first quarter of the current fiscal, much higher than Delhi's 7.5% and Mumbai's 7.1%.
In the corresponding period in 2015-16, the growth rate for Karnataka & Goa was about 18%, which means it has gone up by a huge 15% this year.
Direct tax collection in the April-June quarter this fiscal nationally rose by 24.79%, with the Karnataka-Goa region contributing in a big waytH, say officers of the income tax department.
Nutan Wodeyar, principal chief commissioner of income tax (Karnataka & Goa), told STOI encouraging economic activity in the region and taxpayerfriendly measures are the two major reasons for the achievement. “In addition to our ef forts to expand the tax base, upgrading some services to the online platform and an assessee-friendly grievance mechanism have yielded good results.“
Contribution by the region to the national grid in collection has gone up from 7% a decade ago to 10.66% now, Wodeyar said.Karnataka & Goa is among the highest TDS contributors.
New taxpayers in the region have grown consistently. In 2001, the number of assessees was 12.81 lakh.On March 31, 2015, the tax payer base was 20.30 lakh.That number now is about 24 lakh. But the figures are rdly encouraging. “Only hardly encouraging. “Only about 4% of the total population pays taxes. We have to consider a few factors here. The main thing is that 60% of the population is excluded as they are into agriculture. Out of those remaining, a certain percentage of the population doesn't fall into the tax bracket," Wodeyar noted.
She said the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016, could bring more people into the tax net. “While most among the salaried class abide by tax norms, it is the business and professional class who need to voluntarily comply with tax laws."