The civic budget has crossed Rs3,000-cr mark for the first time

Citizens have been spared from paying higher taxes this year.

Standing committee chairman Shyam Deshpande on Friday presented a Rs3,027.41-crore budget for 2009-10, which is a little over Rs346 crore as proposed earlier by municipal commissioner Praveensingh Pardeshi.

This is the first time that the civic budget has crossed the Rs3,000 crore mark. In the budget tabled before the general body, a sum of Rs1,929.86 crore has been earmarked for development works.

The advance tax collection of the country declined over 22 per cent for the third quarter of the current financial year. Tax collection was Rs 54,900 crore in the same period last year and it now stands at Rs 42,600 crore. The decline in the advance tax collection indicates the grim situation following the economic slowdown which may further worsen in the coming times. Now, the growth rate in direct tax collections for the first nine months stands at 12%. Government has set a target to achieve the tax growth rate of 15 per cent with net tax collection of Rs 3,65,000 crore for the current financial year.

Corporate advance tax collections in Mumbai give warning signals, indicating the tough situation ahead, following the global slowdown. The tax collection in Mumbai failed to meet its revenue target of 1.57 lakh crore for FY09 (April 2008-March 2009). Mumbai corporate tax collection contributes around 35-40% to the country's tax kitty. Tax collection has increased just 20% in the current financial year up to December, as compared to 60% in the same period last year.

Direct tax growth declined to 22.2 per cent, following the global financial crisis. Government collected Rs 1,77,251 crore as direct taxes between April to November this fiscal. The collection was Rs 1,45,053 crore till November last year. Low economic activities impacted the state revenue significantly as companies are facing low demand amid tight monetary policy and global slow demand. Tax growth witnessed 45% increase earlier this year while 29.5% growth a month ago.

The effects of the economic slow down due to the global financial crisis, has resulted in a five per cent fall in excise and customs collection during October. The decline in indirect tax collection comes at a time when the government is finding it hard to mobilize resources, while expenditure on subsidies and other welfare measures is going up.

The excise collection, decreased by 8.7 per cent to Rs 18,664 crore as against Rs 19,646 crore during the same period a year ago, while customs duty collections declined by 0.9 per cent to Rs 9,265 crore from Rs 9,353 crore in October 2007.

Net direct tax collections rate for seven months of this financial year registering a growth of 29.52 per cent. It stood at Rs166,905 crore up to October 2008 as compared to Rs128,864 crore for the same period of last year. The country remained successful to increase tax collection, despite global slowdown.

Corporate tax increased to 33.49 per cent and stood at Rs105,174 crore as against Rs78,785 crore. Income tax growth rate too increased registering a growth of 23.14 per cent. Fringe benefit tax (FBT) increased by 47 per cent and dividend distribution tax grew above 48 per cent which indicates sound financial health of the  country despite global financial crisis.