SHILLONG, Feb 6: The state government on Tuesday declared that it is actively investigating allegations of tax evasion in the state and is not taking any time off.
“We take the appropriate action whenever and wherever we receive complaints. We are not sitting idle,” Taxation Minister AT Mondal said.
A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) states that the Tax department found 106 instances of tax evasion in 2020–21. Fifty-nine of these cases were looked into, and an extra Rs 19 lakh was taken in. According to the report, the remaining 47 cases remained unresolved.
“Whenever CAG gives the report, we immediately refer it to the Assembly and the Public Accounts Committee goes through it, gauges the queries and after that, they give their comments. That is the procedure we follow,” Mondal said, acknowledging that there are sometimes allegations and other times legitimate issues.
According to the minister, fuel pump owners were previously required to pay taxes to the government on a monthly basis, but this is now required to be done every six months to a year. According to him, comparable measures are being taken at different levels to ensure timely tax collection and payment, and they have gradually begun to yield results.
In a previous report, the CAG stated that non-tax revenue fell by 23.65% between 2016–17 and 2020–21, from Rs 685.24 crore to Rs 523.17 crore. Under profits and dividends, there were no receipts. The revenue received for non-ferrous mining and metallurgy fell by Rs 76.40 crore (23.66%), the revenue for interest fell by Rs 17.38 crore (60.12%), and the revenue for other administrative services fell by Rs 14.32 crore (34.67%), the CAG report said.
In the meantime, tax revenue for the year was 12.81% less than the BEs’ projection and 7.39% less than the 15th Finance Commission’s assessment. The non-tax revenue was 24.21% less than the BEs’ assessment of the year and 10.61% higher than the 15th Finance Commission’s projection.
