Liquor money set to fill govt coffers

Liquor money set to fill govt coffers
x
Highlights

As the newly introduced single tax system - GST - dashed off the Telangana government’s hopes of getting more revenues, the State harped on liquor sales to meet the increasing financial requirements for the implementation of welfare and developmental programmes.

Hyderabad: As the newly introduced single tax system - GST - dashed off the Telangana government’s hopes of getting more revenues, the State harped on liquor sales to meet the increasing financial requirements for the implementation of welfare and developmental programmes.

The government has targeted to generate more than Rs 18,000 crore from liquor sales (for next Excise year) as against Rs 15,000 crore this year. State Excise officials said that government has put district wise revenue goals to achieve the annual target.

The revenue targets in the highest liquor consuming districts - Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy, Karimangar and Warangal districts were increased by 50 per cent in the Excise year beginning from October one. In the other districts, government targets to generate 30 per cent more revenues through liquor sales.

To achieve the targets, the Excise department already forwarded proposal to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for the increase of liquor prices. It was proposed to hike 9 per cent on medium liquor brands and 12 per cent on premium brands. Cheap liquor has been exempted from the price hike. The Chief minister is likely to give his nod in one month.

Officials said that revenues generated through taxes under the GST has gone down by nearly Rs 700 crore in July and August months due to various reasons. Government is expecting the revenues being generated through the new tax system would be reduced this year as both the Centre and State governments found some anomalies in collecting the taxes. The increase of midsize car prices already slowed down the sales which dented State revenues collected through vehicle registrations.

Officials said that the expenditure being incurred on infrastructure projects has been increased by 30 per cent this year. Revenue growth rate was stagnant. Under these circumstances, government has decided to increase revenue targets through liquor sales to meet the financial requirements.

Show Full Article
Print Article
Next Story
More Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENTS