Karnataka listed among the third largest tax contributor

Bengaluru: Karnataka has been listed among the third largest tax contributor in the country.

It has been reported that Karnataka saw a rise of 19.27% at Rs 85,920.98 crore compared with the previous year. In the year 2015-16, the state had contributed Rs 72,040.94 crore to the direct tax.

Currently it accounts for 10.11% of the total direct tax collections.

Among the top are Maharashtra and Delhi. Maharashtra contributed Rs 3, 14,056.27 crore (36.96%) to the direct tax and Delhi contributed Rs 1, 08,882.5 crore (12.81%).

Tamil Nadu at Rs 60,077.95 crore (7.07%) ranked number four and Gujarat being five with Rs 38,808.27 crore (4.57%).

Maharashtra’s direct tax collections have grown by 9.43% compared with the preceding year, while Delhi has shown a growth of 7.10%, Tamil Nadu’s collections have grown by 18.91% and Gujarat’s by 14.26%.

Experts credit the growth in Karnataka is due to its booming IT industry and start ups. “Karnataka is software driven economy, while Maharashtra is a manufacturing-driven economy. Software sector has not been impacted by recent policy changes, so its direct tax revenue is growing,” Mohan Lavi, Bengaluru-based tax expert said. He also attributed it to the startup culture of Bengaluru and increased immigrants in to the city.