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The government has attained the revised indirect tax collection target of Rs 2, 79,000 crore for 2007-08, said P.C. Jha, chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs. Total indirect tax mopup included customs collections of Rs 1,04,000 crore, excise collections of Rs 1,25,000 crore and service taxes of over Rs 50,000 crore as on March 31, 2008, he said. The direct tax collection target of Rs 3,05,000 crore has by now been achieved at Rs 3,12,000 crore. Total tax collected stood at Rs 5, 91,000 crore for the fiscal.

Referring to the budget estimates of Rs 3, 22,000 crore for indirect tax collections in 2008-09, Jha said, “We are hopeful of attain the target considering the continuing high increase of the economy.” He said the final service tax set figures were still due as data for about 5.5 lakh taxpayers were being collected, but the targets had been achieved. This is despite the cut in excise duty from 16 to 14 per cent and the decrease in customs responsibility on various items after the budget.

Jha said there was a minor shortfall in remove duty collections next to the revised target of Rs 1,27,947 crore for 2007-08, but it was more than met by the increase in customs and service tax collections.