A spokesperson of the State Taxes and Excise Department said here today that the Department has shown steady growth in revenue collection over the last three years. He said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the Department has collected over Rs. 26,000 crore. This includes Rs. 10,248.56 crore in the financial year 2023-24. The collection increased to Rs. 10,880.57 crore in 2024-25. He said that in the current financial year 2025-26, the Department has collected Rs. 5,536.30 crore up to September 2025.

He said that these figures show that revenue from GST, Excise, VAT, PGT and Other Taxes on Goods has been rising consistently since 2022-23, due to better efficiency and improved compliance of the reforms of the state government.

He said that the State Government has introduced various reforms to strengthen the transparency and strengthen the working of the department. It includes the Auction-cum-Tender system for the allotment of liquor vends in 2023-24 and 2024-25. This policy change helped the government increase its excise revenue, which rose from Rs 2,147.04 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 2,631.30 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 2,776.41 crore in 2024-25.

The Spokesperson further said that as per the budget announcements the state government introduced a Milk Cess of Rs. 10 per bottle of liquor. This brought an additional Rs. 144.84 crore in 2023-24 and Rs. 141.92 crore in 2024-25, which was being used to support milk production and help livestock farmers. A Natural Farming Cess was also imposed from 2024-25 generating Rs 24.62 crore to encourage natural farming in the state. For 2025-26, a WDA Cess (Children of Destitute Women and Disabled Parents) of Rs. 1.50 per bulk litre has been levied on the export of Indian and foreign liquor to support children of widowed or destitute women and disabled parents.

The department has also taken important steps in digital governance. The Excise e-Governance Project launched in April 2023 now enables online issuance of passes and permits along with digital payment of all fees, said the Spokesperson. In a long-pending administrative reform in January 2024 the department reorganized separate GST and Excise wings to ensure better specialization, stronger enforcement and improved service delivery.

He said that to further help taxpayers, a new online application and mobile app were introduced in September 2024. These provide facilities such as e-registration, e-return filing for VAT and CST, online tax payment, e-declaration at check-posts, online issuance and verification of statutory forms and updated departmental information on the portal.

Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that over the past three years the works of the state government reflects the committed and practical approach of towards progress, development and prosperity of the state and the people through Vyavastha Parivartan.

================================================

Secretary Rural development and Panchyati Raj C. Paul Rasu calls on State election commissioner Himachal Pradesh Sh Anil Kumar Khachi at Shimla today.