India lost 2 Bhutans worth of individual taxpayers to Covid-19 pandemic

Growth rate of new tax payers has been under pressure in recent years

India had fewer individuals paying income taxes after the economic devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The total number of people who dropped out of the taxpayer list was 2.02 million, or 2.6 times the population of Bhutan. There were 63.3 million taxpayers in assessment year 2021-22 (AY22), compared to 65.4 million in AY20. Bhutan has a population of around 0.77 million, according to 2021 figures from the World Bank.

The assessment year broad­ly corresponds to the previous financial year (FY). The data was revealed in a Lok Sabha reply on February 13. It added that data for FY22 was under compilation as the last date for filing returns was December 31, 2022.

The growth of individual taxpayers has shown an erratic trend, but some signs of a dec­line were seen even before the Covid-19 pandemic. The grow­th rate declined from 18.7 per cent in AY19 to 10.7 per cent in AY20. This would broadly correspond to FY19, around a year before the Covid-19 pandemic. It showed a negative growth of 3.7 per cent in AY21. The subsequent year saw it increase by 0.6 per cent.

The data also had a break-up by income categories. Those with an income of Rs 0-5 lakh saw their numbers decline from 49.9 million in AY20 to 41.2 million in AY22. This fall of 8.7 million was mitigated by some gains in higher income brackets. The number of those earning Rs 5-10 lakh rose from 10.6 million to 14.1 million, a gain of 3.4 million, over the same period. The number of people earning over Rs 10 lakh rose from 4.9 million to 8.1 million in the same period; a gain of 3.2 million. The additions in higher-income brackets were not enough to offset the losses in the lowest-income bracket, falling short by 2 million.

The amount of money collected in the form of personal taxes has gone up despite this decline. This is given in financial year terms. There was Rs 6.7 trillion in income tax collected in FY22, compared to Rs 4.6 trillion in FY19. Corporate taxes have grown slower, up from Rs 6.6 trillion to Rs 7.1 trillion in the same period.