Rajasthan hikes excise duty on liquor, beer to make up for revenue shortfall

Jaipur, April 30 (IANS) In a bid to mop up revenue which is the dumps to the prolonged lockdown, liquor and beer will cost more in Rajasthan as the state government on Wednesday hiked excise duty on Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and basic license fee on country liquor.

Hurting from the huge revenue losses due to lockdown, the Rajasthan government has increased excise duty on liquor by 10 percentage points.

The excise department of the state issued a notification today increasing the excise duty on IMFL and beer to 45 per cent. For some categories of IMFL, the excise duty is lower at 35 per cent.

Rajasthan is expected to mop up Rs 800 crore from the hike in these changes.

The excise duty on IMFL bottles priced below Rs 900 will now be 35 per cent instead of 25 per cent and the duty will now be 45 per cent instead of 35 per cent on IMFL bottles having price of Rs 900 or above.

The duty on beer was increased from 35 per cent to 45 per cent. The basic licence fee for sale of Country Liquor and Rajasthan Made Liquor (RML) was also raised.

States are finding ways to increase the revenue as economic activity has crashed to a halt during the lockdown and collection of GST or excise is pathetically low and restricted to essential items which are allowed to be sold during the lockdown period.

Rajasthan’s annual excise collection target is around Rs 15,000 crore and there is already a 70 per cent shortfall in revenue in April as the impact of the lockdown sets in.

–IANS

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