Petrol, liquor tax pay for welfare schemes

Taxes contributed `19,527 cr in the first 4 months of this fiscal

Higher commercial tax collections have helped the cash-starved state government implement the Dalit Bandhu and crop loan waiver schemes in August, according to officials. This despite a lockdown of varying durations during the period.

Commercial taxes contributed `19,527 crore in the first four months of this fiscal (April-July, 2021-22) of which `6,710 crore was earned in July alone. This allowed the government to mobilise `2,000 crore each for the for longpending crop loan waiver and Dalit Bandhu this month.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will formally launch the Dalit Bandhu (to extend

`10 lakh each to 20,000 Dalit families) and crop loan waiver up to

`50,000 each to 6 lakh farmers on August 16.

Fuel prices touching

`100 per litre generated huge revenues for the government in the form of VAT while major revenue collections came from liquor sales, also in the form of VAT. The government collects

35.2 per cent VAT on petrol and 27 per cent VAT on diesel. The price of petrol in Hyderabad on Saturday was `105.84 per litre while that of diesel was `97.96.

The government has been earning over

`1,000 crore every month since April from fuel, against `800 crore` 900 crore per month earlier; in the fourmonth April-July period it earned `4,068 crore through VAT on fuel, July contributing `1,100 crore. Liquor sales contributed even more,

`4,095 crore in the April-July period.

The other major revenue contributors include SGST and IGST which fetched `4,340 crore and `3,977 crore respectively. The government also received GST compensation of `2,838 crore from the Centre.

The state government raised `13,000 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal (April-June) by auctioning bonds through RBI. For the second quarter (JulySeptember), the RBI has permitted the state government to borrow

`1,000 crore each in July and August and `2,000 crore in September.

The government has decided to raise another

`2,000 crore on August

10, taking the overall borrowing this fiscal to

`16,000 crore.