The Punjab government Wednesday set for itself an unprecedented target of tax revenue collection pegged at Rs 28,524 crore for 2013-14. While this alone makes for 66 per cent of the revenue receipts expected in the new fiscal, the state has set a rather lofty challenge for itself.

Encouraged by the VAT collection, which have shown an increase from Rs 5,136 crore in 2007 to Rs 14,900 crore in 2012-13, the government Wednesday said it would be collecting Rs 20,000 crore in 2013-14 from VAT alone.

The budget estimates for last year had pegged the VAT collections at Rs 14,213 crore, which was revised to Rs 14,900 crore. The actual collection in 2011-2012 was 11,172 crore.

"VAT collection is going to be our sterling achievement this year. From April onwards majority of traders in Punjab will not have to maintain any ledgers or books and the entire system will be online, transparent and open. The possibility of evasion and theft will be minimal," said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

If the state is able to mop up Rs 20,000 crore in VAT this year, the urban local bodies and the Punjab Infrastructure Development Fund, which gets a certain per cent of the VAT will be richer by about Rs 2,300 crore. "We would be left with roughly Rs 17,700 crore from VAT alone to meet budget needs," Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said talking to The Indian Express.

The state is also expecting a substantial increase in excise collections during the new financial year. The new excise policy had envisaged an increase of Rs 380 crore over last year. The revenue from excise in 2013-14 is Rs 4,180 crore as against the revised estimates of Rs 3,800 crore in the current year. The actual excise collection in 2011-2012 was Rs 2,754 crore. "The increase should cross the Rs 400 crore mark," added Dhindsa.

The state intends to earn another Rs 1,350 crore from taxes on vehicles. Under this, a large component (Rs 1000 crore) of the earnings is from receipts under the state Motor Vehicles Taxation Act. The expected income under this head for the next fiscal is almost Rs 350 crore more than the revised estimates of the current year (Rs 750 crore). The actual collection under this head in 2011-2012 was Rs 850 crore. "We had already rationalized the motor vehicle tax on different types of vehicles in the current year. Its results will be seen in the next financial year," said Dhindsa.

Having increased the electricity duty from 10 per cent to 13 per cent in 2010, the state earned Rs 928 crore in 2011-2012 under this head. For the current financial year the state is expected to bring in Rs 1,540 crore. Though there was a plan to increase electricity duty to 17 per cent this year, it was never carried out. For 2013-2014 the state, however, has set a target of almost Rs 1,700 crore as taxes and duties on electricity.

The major let down in tax collection to the state in the current year has been stamp duty and registration fee. "It is the only head where we have shown a downward movement in collection but we intend to pick up," said Dhindsa.

The actual collections under this head in 2011-2012 were Rs 3,079 crore. The budget estimates for the current year pegged it at Rs 3,375 crore. However, it was revised to Rs 3,000 crore. Now for the next year, the state government has again set a lofty goal of gathering Rs 3,450 crore under this head. Most of this is expected to be met from the sale of stamps which has been pegged at Rs 3439 crore.

"We are coming up with an out of the box real estate policy and you will see major investment in this sector this year," said Sukhbir. (Indian Express)