Use AI to check tax evasion, says Chandrababu Naidu

Chief Minister N.  Chandrababu Naidu has stressed the need to improve tax collection and revenue generation for the development of the State. He suggested using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to detect tax evasion.

At a review meeting with revenue-generating departments on Wednesday, Mr. Naidu said that officials from all revenue-generating departments should work towards increasing the State’s own income and enhancing tax collections to support welfare and development programmes. The officials needed to explore more revenue avenues and identify areas where revenue was low to take corrective measures. The entire process — from tax payments to issuing receipts and notices — should be done online, he said.

Asserting that there was no room for tax evasion, Mr. Naidu said AI had identified that over a thousand builders in the State had not registered despite being issued occupancy certificates by the municipal department. The officials should not approve any proposals unless the applicants had mandatory GST registration. It was a classic example of use of the AI technology to detect tax evaders, he said and called for the implementation of similar processes across all revenue departments to ensure efficient tax collection.

Mr. Naidu stressed that all departments should work towards achieving the State’s own revenue target of ₹1,37,412 crore for this financial year. Compared to the 2023–24 financial year, there had been a 2.2% increase in the State’s own revenue for 2024–25. Tax revenue witnessed a growth of 4.1%, though non-tax revenue remained below expectations. GST collections rose by 4.9%, professional tax by 15.2%, and excise revenue by 24.3%. Since the announcement of the new excise policy, the government revenue had shown improvement. From October 2024 to March 2025, excise income amounted to ₹4,330 crore — an increase of nearly 33%, he said.

With regard to property tax collections in urban local bodies,  over ₹500 crore more revenue was collected in 2024–25 compared to 2023–24. However, tax dues of approximately ₹2,500 crore remained pending, most of which pertained to taxes on central and State government properties and vacant lands. Officials reported that following the 50% interest waiver announced in March, ₹240 crore in property taxes was collected in just six days.

Source: The Hindu