Corporate West Bengal is on a roll.
This is not a statement of any industry captain, but of the officials of the income tax department. They feel that industry in the state is doing well as the corporate tax collection is increasing at a scorching pace in the state.
The growth in the overall direct tax collection in the state is largely due to buoyant corporate tax collection in the first seven months of this fiscal as the growth in the personal income tax collection remained sluggish.
The income-tax officials were interacting with the media during the launch of help centre at Aaykar Bhawan here in Kolkata.
The commissioner of income tax (computer operation), Gautam Chowdhury, said that the department has collected Rs 3,000 crore of corporate tax in the first seven months of the current fiscal till October 31.
This is close to 40 per cent more than the collection figure of the corresponding period of last financial year.
The corporate tax collection during the same period in 2005-06 was Rs 2,200 crore.
The corporate tax collection in the first seven months of 2004-05 was Rs 1,300 crore.
"There is 200 per cent jump in corporate tax collections in last two years which is really remarkable," Chowdhury said.
The total tax collection has also grown from Rs 3,200 crore till October 31, 2005-06 to Rs 4,100 crore in the current fiscal, a growth of 27 per cent. Chowdhury pointed out that the corporate tax collections is increasing at a healthy rate for last 2-3 years.
"Industry is looking upbeat here. This trend is reflected in the corporate tax collection," he said.
According to him, the income tax department has set a target of net tax collection at Rs 9,900 crore in 2006-07 compared to a collection of Rs 7,700 crore last fiscal. "We are hopeful to achieve the target," he added.
However, Chowdhury informed that the collection of income tax was sluggish till October 31, of current fiscal at Rs 1,100 crore from Rs 934 crore in the same period of the last financial year, a growth of less than 20 per cent.
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