New Delhi: The West Bengal government has introduced several amendments to the Finance Bill, including significant changes to the collection of professional tax, to increase state revenue without imposing additional taxes on employees.
Presenting the amendments during the discussion on the Finance Bill, Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said the revised provisions would help strengthen the state’s revenue while keeping expenditure under control.
Under the new rules, professional tax paid by eligible employees working in West Bengal will be deposited into the West Bengal government’s treasury, even if their employer’s corporate headquarters is located in another state.
Previously, in cases where a company was headquartered outside West Bengal, the professional tax paid by employees was credited to that state’s treasury. The amendment seeks to ensure that tax generated from employees working within West Bengal remains with the state.
The minister clarified that the revised system would not result in double taxation, assuring employees and employers that taxes would continue to be collected only once.
“The number of government employees is decreasing while employment in the private sector is increasing. We observed this trend elsewhere, and it is happening here as well. That is why we have introduced this change,” the minister said.
As part of the new compliance requirements, companies will also have to disclose the number of employees who are liable to pay professional tax when submitting tax returns to the state government.
The government said the move is also intended to bring more workers from the informal sector into the formal organised economy, thereby widening the tax base and improving compliance.
According to the finance minister, current projections indicate that the changes could increase the state’s revenue by around 18 per cent.
In addition to professional tax reforms, the amended Finance Bill also proposes changes to the taxation framework for the mining sector. The minister said the government plans to introduce stricter taxation measures in mining, replacing the comparatively liberal provisions that existed under the previous administration.
The amendments are part of the state government’s broader strategy to strengthen revenue mobilisation without increasing tax rates for individual taxpayers.
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