Bengaluru: Inadequacies in the system to sheer lack of application by officials has seen the State lose crores in taxes between April 2011 and March 2016, illustrates the report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) tabled in the Legislative Council on Friday.

Take for instance, professional tax on owners of transport vehicles. When CAG auditors perused the records, there were more than 15 lakh transport vehicles (apart from autorickshaws) plying in the State. The Commercial Tax Department records, however, showed that just 4,290 owners were paying professional tax amounting to just Rs. 6.55 lakh for five years. In actuality, it was found that there were 2.42 lakh owners, including nearly 33,000 persons that owned between two and 160 vehicles. The amount of revenue loss calculated between April 2011 and March 2016 was Rs. 137.11 crore.

“The Commercial Tax Department did not make any effort to obtain information of owners that were easily accessible,” said the report. This “lack of effort” has seen the department lose out on professional tax on those who work in the film industry, cable operators, service sectors, among others.

The CAG report on the revenue sector looks at 459 units under various departments responsible for tax collection. Of the over Rs. 1,017 crore deficiency pointed out, the State government has received just Rs. 33.72 crore, while a response for the rest was yet to be obtained.

The Department of Stamps and Registration was found not to have collected revenue of Rs. 442 crore — including a loss of Rs. 244.30 crore by not levying stamp duty on iron ore seized during the heydays of illegal mining in Ballari. The iron ore was auctioned for Rs. 4,886.08 crore, but stamp duty was not levied on it.