Direct tax collections up 40 till Dec 15

The Government8217;s coffers swelled by 42.50 per cent at Rs 1,64,407 crore from direct taxes till December 15, prompting the finance ministry to express confidence that the exchequer will be richer by over Rs 3 lakh crore from these levies this fiscal. A year ago, the direct taxes, comprising corporate and personal income taxes, yielded Rs 1,15,377 crore.

With this, the net direct tax collections are already 61 per cent of budgeted tax target of Rs 2,67,490 crore. Finance Ministry officials exuded optimism that the collections would exceed Rs 3 lakh crore this fiscal. The budget had targeted the direct taxes collections to grow by 16.6 per cent this fiscal. Corporate tax fetched Rs 98,391 crore, up 42.37 per cent from Rs 69,110 crore, an official statement said.

Personal income tax grew by 42.83 per cent to yield Rs 65,774 crore against Rs 46,051 crore a year ago. Bullish stock markets led to a 74.36 per cent rise in securities transaction tax at Rs 5,895 crore against Rs 3,381 crore. Fringe Benefit Tax fetched 16.10 per cent more at Rs 3,313 crore against Rs 2,854 crore, while banking cash transaction tax, which was imposed to keep a trail on black money, yielded Rs 376 crore, up 17.04 per cent.