Lokesh slams fall in corporate tax mop-up

Vijayawada: TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh on Thursday held the Jagan Mohan Reddy government responsible for 'gradual decline' in corporate tax collections and companies' transactions consistently in the past three years.

Lokesh said the decline in tax collections indicated how the existing industries were also reducing their activities in AP while no new investments were coming to the state due to adverse policies of the government. Such negative growth in industrial activity would spell doom for the future of the State as a whole. In a statement here, Lokesh pointed out that the direct tax collections were Rs 22,881 crore during the TDP rule in 2018-`19. They came down to Rs 20,928 crore during 2019-`20 in the first year of the YSRCP 'reverse' regime. There was a further decline to Rs. 17,522 crore in 2020-`21.

Lokesh termed it as 'alarming that Union minister Pankaj Chowdhury had raised a concern on how the direct tax collections from AP were showing a steady declining trend. The YSRCP government's archaic and anti-investment policies were solely responsible for the financial, economic and industrial decline in Andhra Pradesh.

Lokesh said the Chief Minister was still not realising that his retrogressive mindset was not only making existing industries to reduce their production but also driving some of them to leave the state altogether. It was a big blow to the State that the corporate tax collections were declining every year in a consistent manner.