Govt. will meet direct tax collection target: P Chidambaram

Govt. will meet direct tax collection target: P ChidambaramThe Union Government will surely meet its target of collecting Rs 5.7 lakh crore in direct tax during the current financial year, Finance minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday.

Mr. Chidambaram added that the government could even collect more in direct tax than the target.

Speaking on the topic, "I am confident we will meet the direct tax collection target... (all those people) whose data we have about their purchases, mutual funds, if everybody pays advance tax, then actually we will collect more than the target."

During April to November period of current financial year, gross direct tax collections jumped 7.14 per cent to Rs 3,25,696 crore, from Rs 3,04,002 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. But, direct collections net of refunds jumped by 15.04 per cent, from Rs 2, 35,333 crore to Rs 2, 70,731 crore during the same period.

Tax collections were merely 47.5 per cent of the Budget Estimate of around Rs 5, 70,257 crore this financial year.

The Union Finance Minister also asked the income tax department to give priority to refunds to small income taxpayers. He explained that a taxpayer has to receive Rs 5 lakh can wait, but someone who has to receive Rs 5,000 should get it first. Last year around this time, the tax refund was at Rs 70,000 crore.