The debt ridden West Bengal government may get hundred crores more from the share of indirect central taxes in this fiscal due to good growth in excise and service tax collection from the state in this financial year so far.

Going by the indication, the combined collection of service tax, excise tax and customs duty could be more than Rs 25,000 crore from Kolkata circle, which would be Rs 5,000-5,500 crore more than 2011-12.The states get share of excise and customs duty though service tax distribution formula has not yet been worked out. The commissioner of service tax and central excise Sunil K Das though was tight lipped about the figures but he added that there was a good growth in service and ex-cise tax last year and it could be even better this year.

"The collection of service tax will be definitely much better this year following the new service tax regime from July 1. The excise collection is also good," he added. He was talking to reporters after an interactive session with the members of MCC Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Incidentally, from July 1,2012, service tax is set to be imposed on all services except those specified in the negative list. As a result barring 17 items under the nega-tive list everything will come under tax. The states get 2.5% of the central tax collected from the region except service tax.

The service tax and central excise commissioner said that there was a growth of 37% in the service tax collection from Bengal in 2011-12 which was one of the highest in the country. "The total collection was Rs 3,200 crore which is good," he added. The tax experts feel that the figure should be double this year with introduction of new areas under service tax. In the excise front, the state had registered a growth of 25% in excise tax collec-tion. "The collection of excise tax was Rs 7,500 crore while customs duty was Rs 7,600 crore," he added. The total service tax collection in India was Rs 97,000 crore in 2011-12 from Rs 64,000 crore in 2010-11. It may be noted that the state government is hoping to cross Rs 30,000 crore revenue collection mark from state taxes this year. The state finance minister had earlier said that it has collected additional revenue of Rs 4,000 crore in 2011-12 though there was no new tax. It was Rs 25,000 crore in 2011-12 compared to Rs 21,000 crore in 2010-11.