New Delhi: The Government yesterday (Dec 5, 2006)said it has collected Rs 982.98 mn as income tax till November 15 this fiscal compared to Rs 694.65 mn in the same period last year, a growth of 41.5 per cent.

Recovery of outstanding income tax dues during April-September 2006-07 amounted to Rs 80.33 mn as compared to Rs 40.27 mn in the corresponding period last fiscal, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

Replying to a question on Value Added Tax, he said, so far the experience with implementation of VAT has been very encouraging.

Tax revenue of 30 states and UTs where VAT has been implemented grew 30 per cent in the first seven months of this fiscal as against 26.1 per cent in April-October last year.

On Good and Services Tax, he said, steps were being taken for introducing GST by April 2010 as announced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his budget speech.

Palanimanickam said the government after examining Proneb Sen Committee report has decided not to reduce excise duty on pharmaceutical products from 16 per cent to 8 per cent.

In reply to another question, he said, customs department has imposed a fine Rs 3.75 lakh on import of waste paper mixed with hazardous municipal waste by cigarette manufacturer ITC Ltd.

To another question, he said in the light of mounting work load due to new tax laws and increasing complexities, government has decided to create 7,051 additional posts for the Income Tax Department.