Direct tax collections now a crawl, shrink Govt’s space to cut GST

The impact of a slowing economy is showing up in government revenues with net direct tax collections in the first five-and-a-half months of 2019-20 making up just a third of the full-year target. Advertising Net direct tax collections during April 1-September 15 grew just 5% to Rs 4.4 lakh crore, suggesting the government would have to raise more than double this amount over the next six-and-a-hal…