Uttarakhand: Trade tax/VAT/GST collection increased by more than 48 times, Dhami gave instructions to run an intensive campaign to prevent tax evasion

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, during a meeting at the Chief Minister’s residence on Saturday, directed the officials to prepare a complete plan for the financial situation of the next 10 years in the state. In this long-term plan, work should be done on economic and social development, environmental protection, effective implementation of schemes using modern technology. He said that a framework for economic development should be prepared to increase the resources of the state’s income for the next 10 years. Work should be done in a planned manner in tourism, pilgrimage, energy, connectivity, industry, agriculture, rural development, education, health, skill development, social welfare and other important areas related to the state’s economy. Unnecessary expenses should be controlled. He said that everyone will have to contribute to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve of developed India by 2047. A detailed plan should also be made for the financial situation of the state till 2047.

The Chief Minister said that data analytics and research should be used in policy making for better budget management. Suggestions of experts and common people should also be taken in planning. With simplification of government processes, work should be done more rapidly towards digital governance. Tax revenue, non-tax revenue, industrial investment, digital tax collection and public-private partnership should be promoted to generate revenue in the state. It was informed in the meeting that 85 percent of the revenue has been received as compared to the target in the financial budget 2024-25. Whereas revenue expenditure has been 90.50 percent.

The Chief Minister directed in the meeting that more effective efforts should be made to increase GST collection in the state. An intensive campaign should be run to prevent tax evasion. Raid action should be continued. More attention should be paid to the use of AI and data analytics. Simple and transparent process should be adopted for filing GST.

It was informed in the meeting that since the establishment of the state, trade tax / VAT / GST collection has increased by more than 48 times. The collection has increased from 233 crores to 11289 crores. The contribution of GST and VAT in the state’s tax sources is 62 percent, excise 19 percent, transport 05 percent, stamp 08 percent and mining 05 percent. 848 cases of ITC fraud and 165 fake firms have been identified in the state. A special campaign was launched to identify fake GST registrations in the state, under which 51 GST registrations were found non-existent and their registrations were cancelled.

Principal Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu, R. Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretary Shailesh Bagoli, Dilip Jawalkar, Vinay Shankar Pandey, Additional Director General of Police A.P. Anshuman, State Tax Commissioner Dr. Ahmed Iqbal, Vice President MDDA Banshidhar Tiwari and GST department officials were present in the meeting.