The government is witnessing a “record” tax mop-up due to the reforms that it has carried out in the past 10 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
“We gave a modern tax system to the country in the form of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The government also made the Income Tax (IT) system easier and started faceless tax assessment,” Modi said after inaugurating the new campus of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics in Andhra Pradesh.
In April-November, the Centre’s gross tax revenue, net of refunds, stood at Rs 20.42 trillion, which was 14.7% higher on year. Within which corporate tax collections came in at Rs 5.14 trillion and income tax collections at Rs 5.67 trillion, both, respectively higher 20.1% and 29.4%, year-on-year.
The collections from Central goods and services tax (CGST) were up 13.4% on year at Rs 5.35 trillion. So far in FY24, gross GST mop-up has averaged Rs 1.7 trillion as against Rs 1.5 trillion in FY23.
“Tax reforms after 2014 have resulted in tax savings of about 2.5 trillion for the citizens,” Modi said while adding that the number of taxpayers is consistently increasing in the country as they feel happy that their tax money is put to good use.
He also said that due to a spurt in tax mop-up, the government is now spending the money on several welfare schemes.
In the recent report of NITI Aayog, which said that India lifted about 250 million people out of poverty between FY14 and FY23, Modi said that it is a “historic and unprecedented” achievement, especially in a nation where slogans for eradicating poverty have been raised for decades.