CM Siddaramaiah warns of strict action against tax evasion in Karnataka

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday instructed the Commercial Tax Officers to take strict action against tax evaders in cases of tax evasion, tax leakage and tax pilferage in the state. He also instructed the officials of the Excise Department to prevent the smuggling of illicit liquor into the state and focus on recovering tax arrears and achieving the target set in tax collection. He was speaking at the review meeting of the Commercial Tax Department in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

He said that the growth rate of tax collection by the State Commercial Tax Department is 19.2%, which is higher than the country’s average of 15%. This year, the government has set a target of 24%.

According to the CM, the state’s share in the total tax collection of the country is 9.4%. He also said that the officials should detect more and more tax evasion cases which will help them to exceed the tax collection target.

He said that the department should pay more attention to prevent tax evasion by intensive enforcement.
“Your efforts can bring more tax to the state. Be attentive and collect tax. If more taxes are collected, more development works can be undertaken. We should work with collective responsibility”, the CM added.

While addressing the Excise Department officials, the CM directed the officials to curb illegal liquor, work towards preventing the smuggling of illegal liquor, recover tax arrears and achieve the set target in tax collection. He said the enforcement agencies should keep a close watch on illegal liquor movement in the border areas, especially from Goa.

The production and sale of illegal liquor adversely affects the income and health of the poor, Siddaramaiah added. He directed all the deputy commissioners to give priority to increasing revenue collection.