Maharashtra's sales tax arrears for fiscal 2005-06 amount to about Rs 15,226 crore.

Test checks of the records of sales tax, state excise, motor vehicle tax, stamp duty, registration fees and land revenue for the fiscal revealed that there were 11,296 cases of under assessment, short levy and loss of revenue involving an amount of Rs 1,607 crore, said Ms Malashri Prasad, Principal Accountant General of Maharashtra.

She was addressing the media on Wednesday on the findings of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 31, 2006.

During that fiscal, only 4.31 lakh tax assessments under sales tax, motor sprit tax, profession tax, purchase tax on sugarcane, entry tax, lease tax, luxury tax and tax on works, were completed. This is a minuscule proportion of the whole, and leaves a balance of 44.19 lakh assessments to be completed.

The CAG reported a slight improvement in the fiscal health of the state. The revenue deficit of Maharashtra decreased from Rs 10,333 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 3,842 crore in 2005-06, mainly due to growth in revenue receipts by 18 per cent. Also, revenue expenditure increased only 2 per cent, according to the report.

The report said that the state's fiscal deficit also decreased from Rs 18,620 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 17,631 crore in 2005-06 on account of the same reasons. The fiscal deficit was 4 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product.

Eighty one per cent of the revenue receipts came from the state's own resources, 8 per cent from grants-in-aid from the Union Government and 11 per cent from central tax transfers.