Kolkata, June 24 (IANS) Plugging loopholes in tax collection is key to achieving the target set by the Suvendu Adhikari government to improve West Bengal’s own tax revenue generation without burdening the people with higher slabs.

An insider from the state finance department said that while many sections are claiming that the budget proposals for the financial year 2026-27 which was presented by the state finance minister, Swapan Dasgupta, lacked specific directions as regarding to improving the state’s own tax revenue, the secret of the improvement lies in a couple of decisions of the state government that it took since the very first day of the new cabinet taking charge.

Already, the steps taken to plug loopholes enabling tax collection leakage and causing a loss in collection of the state’s own tax revenue have started yielding results, and there has been an improvement in collection under certain tax heads.

One definite step in the matter is to make the tax collection system in stone quarry and sand-mining businesses totally transparent by eliminating the scope for forgery in e-challans, which was rampant in the previous Trinamool Congress regime.

The state finance department insider said that the process to identify government officials engaged in the system of e-challan forgery has started and will be replaced with officers with track records of impeccable honesty.

As per the system, these e-challans are issued at various check-posts to trucks carrying sand from river beds.

Apparently, there was nothing doubtful in the e-challans. However, later it was noted that forgery was committed in preparing these e-challans. So these mining and trading operators could avoid paying the legitimate tax to the state government by making unofficial payments — bribe money — to corrupt officials within the system.

“Now with such plugging of the loopholes it will be like killing two ducks with one stone. On one hand, the chain of illegal collection in the form of bribes in the system will be snapped, and at the same time the flow of revenue in the state’s own tax system will automatically increase,” the state finance department official said.

In fact, statistics provided by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday during the ongoing budget session of the House gave a small hint of how the loophole plugging process has already begun generating extra revenue for the state exchequer.

As per the statistics, on average during the previous Trinamool Congress regime, earnings of the state government from stone quarries mainly concentrated in Birbhum district hovered around Rs 60 crore. However, within a brief period from May 9 till date, when the new state cabinet took charge, the collection from the same source has surged to Rs 83 crore.

These statistics, according to the state government, are an example of how the state’s own tax revenue generation can be improved by plugging loopholes and without burdening the people with higher tax slabs.

An important announcement in the budget speech by the state finance minister in the Assembly on June 22 was with regards to the announcement of a policy decision to ensure “ease of doing business’ in West Bengal, where henceforth any investment proposal of Rs 100 crore and above will be provided all necessary clearances through a single-window system of the state government thus easing the pain of the investors from approaching different departments for different clearances.

According to the state finance department official, while the primary aim of this important policy decision is surely “ease of doing business”, there is also scope for eliminating clearance-related bribes in this announcement.

“There have been instances in the past of corruption in the process of getting multiple clearances to start a new business from various departments in a decentralised clearing system. However, when all clearances are granted through a single-window system, such scope for corruption will be eliminated. The new entrepreneur will be able to start his or her own venture by just paying the legitimate fees for clearances, which will also improve the state’s own revenue generation,” said the state government official.

–IANS

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