Corporate tax collections have risen nearly 12-fold in last 15 years and personal income tax 9 fold but share of direct taxes in the economy has fallen to almost a decade low of 5.47 per cent, according to direct tax data published by the Government on Friday.
There was not much differential between corporate tax collections and personal income tax collections in 2000-01. While corporate tax collections that year stood at Rs35,696 crore, personal income tax collections were Rs31,764 crore.
In 15 years, corporate tax collections have risen 12-fold to Rs4,54,419 crore in 2015-16 and is more than 58 per cent higher than Rs2,86,801 crore income tax collections.
After including other direct taxes, total direct tax collections were Rs68,305 crore in 2000-01 which have risen to Rs7,42,295 crore in 2015-16.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to the twitter to say it was a “landmark” decision to publish income tax data. “It is a big step towards transparency & informed policy making.”
“Am sure this data will be used by researchers and analysts and lead to enhanced insights for policy making on taxation,” he said.
The data showed 2.9 crore Indians filed income tax returns and the largest group of tax payers earned an average of Rs6,94,000 while just six people declared an average income of Rs68.72 crore in 2012-13 as per the latest data.
Share of direct taxes to GDP touched a peak of 6.3 per cent in 2007-08 and has since declined to 5.47 per cent in 2015-16.