The Government of Karnataka is staring at a revenue shortfall of around ₹15,000 crore from its own sources in the current financial year, according to data from the state Finance Department.
As of February 10, the state had collected ₹1.54 lakh crore in tax revenue against the budget estimate of ₹2.09 lakh crore. With barely one and a half months left before the fiscal year ends, the government now needs to collect around ₹53,000 crore to meet the target— a task officials say is highly unlikely.
“It is a difficult task, but we are doing our best to at least meet the budget targets, if not exceed them,” a senior Finance Department official said.
Data indicates that, except for excise revenue from liquor, the other three major revenue-earning departments — commercial taxes, transport, and stamps and registration — are all likely to miss their targets by nearly 10 per cent.
By the end of January, excise revenue stood at ₹33,371 crore against a target of ₹40,000 crore. With average monthly collections from liquor sales exceeding ₹3,000 crore, the government expects to surpass the target by about ₹500 crore.
However, collections from other sectors remain below expectations. Revenue from commercial taxes stood at ₹90,229 crore against a target of ₹1.2 lakh crore. The stamps and registration department collected ₹20,500 crore against a target of ₹28,000 crore, while the transport department reported collections of ₹10,594 crore compared to its target of ₹15,000 crore.
Officials attributed the commercial tax shortfall primarily to mid-year GST rationalisation by the Centre, which merged the earlier four tax slabs into a two-slab structure of 5 to 18 percent. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said on multiple occasions that the state could lose around ₹9,000 crore due to this change.
The slowdown in the real estate sector has also hit revenues from stamps and registration. Government sources said technical glitches in the e-khata portal, which affected property transactions, further contributed to the decline.
Facing a steep shortfall in its own revenues, the state government is now expected to cut the budget size for the current fiscal by about 6-7 pc, reducing the estimated outlay from ₹4.09 lakh crore to around ₹3.80 lakh crore. In the past two financial years as well, the government had revised its budget downward after falling short of revenue targets.
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