PANAJI
The State government may be attempting to downplay the dependence on mining revenue for the development of the State, but the huge revenue lost is not only a blow to the State, but it has also cost the Centre in a big way.
According to information with the office of principal commissioner of income tax, the Centre lost nearly Rs 1,900 crore by way of income tax over a four-year period from 2012-13 to 2016-17.
Even though mining operations resumed in the State since last year, the revenue collection has been meager on account of a capping of extraction to 20 million metric tonnes.
Data obtained through Right to Information has revealed that the IT department had generated an average of nearly Rs 1,500 crore as income tax each year, with the income tax collection being Rs 1,555.01 crore in 2012-13.
But with the mining ban imposed in September 2012, the income tax collection plunged by almost Rs 600 crore generating only Rs 918.20 crore (2013-14). Over the next two years, the income tax collection continued to remain low at Rs 971.3 crore (2014-15) and even lower at Rs 844.2 crore (2015-16).
With the resumption of mining activity in 2016, income tax collection rose to Rs 1,360.3 (2016-17), but it was still about Rs 140 crore lower than the average IT collection of Rs 1,500 crore.
Had mining not been halted in the State, the Centre could have earned an average of Rs 7,500 crore as income tax over five years, but ended up earning a tax of only Rs 5,649 crore, a difference of Rs 1851 crore.
During this financial year, the income tax collection has been Rs 152.40 crore till date.
In his own admission while replying to a question in the State assembly on March 6, 2014, then and present Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had stated that the State government had stood to lose approximately Rs 1,240.85 crore and Rs 1450.36 crore for the financial year 2012-13 and 2013-14 respectively.
In another reply in the Assembly on August 14, 2014, Parrikar, who is also mines minister, had stated that the estimated loss per day was approximately Rs 2.74 crore.
"Everyone knows mining is a major source of revenue for the state and also generates huge income tax revenue. Tax collection fell significantly due to the mining ban in 2012 and we will be in a position to ascertain the exact revenue difference only when full-fledged mining activity resumes in the State," a source from the income tax department told The Goan.
The source, however, informed that two factors had played a role in increasing income tax in the State.
"A boom in tourism added to the IT collection, while the income declaration scheme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was success in Goa. Many people voluntarily declared their assets and revenue collection showed a raise in 2016-17," the source added.
