Zeebiz Bureau
Thiruvananthapuram: The God’s Own Country gets its largest revenue share from liquor! The state earned over Rs 3,000 crore in taxes last fiscal from the liquor industry, the largest chunk in the state’s total revenue earnings.
Past records state that sales tax collections from petrol, diesel, ATF and kerosene, which contributed Rs 2,903 crore in 2009-10 have now been replaced by tax revenues from liquor which contributed Rs 3,000.16 crore to the exchequer.
Taxes from liquor and petroleum now contribute roughly 55 percent of state’s overall sales tax revenues. Kerala State Beverages Corp’s turnover over a 22-year period from the beginning in 1984 to 2005-06 was Rs 18,100 crore. Surprisingly the earnings in the last four years alone contributed to a whopping Rs 19,075 crore.
A business daily reported that contribution to the exchequer in the first 22 years was Rs 13,722 crore, while in the last four years and four months, gross contribution to government coffers tallied Rs 14,922 crore.
First Published: Sunday, August 22, 2010, 00:14