Professionals to be taxed and Casino entry hiked from Rs 200 to Rs 2000 .
Green Cess on mining rejects and Dona Paula-Vasco to be sea-linked.
Scheme for employees with differently-abled kids, dhangars.
A ten-time increase in entry fee to casinos, imposition of tax on professionals and also salaried persons earning more than Rs 10,000 per month, levy of Green cess on mining rejects and construction of a bridge connecting Dona Paula to Vasco are the main features of the Additional Budget for the current financial year presented by the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat in the Goa Assembly on Friday.
The Budget also lays stress on infrastructure building, measures to stimulate growth and mobilisation of additional revenue. Several schemes are proposed in the Budget including a Voluntary scheme for Government employees who have differently-abled children to look after and for small entrepreneurs and dhangars. In the backdrop of carrying the additional financial burden due to the implementation of VI Pay Commission recommendation, the chief minister who is also the finance minister has widened the tax base in a bid to generate additional revenue.
The main thrust of the Budget is on creating infrastructure and providing a helping hand in the social sector besides raising the State’s revenue, the chief minister disclosed at a press conference here. “We have tried to leave the commonman untouched as far as new taxes are concerned”, he said. “I have made a sincere effort and tried my level best — in the given circumstances wherein Goa is also affected by global recession — to raise additional revenue to the State and give schemes touching the people of Goa”, Kamat said.
Besides hiking the entry fee to casinos from Rs 200 to Rs 2000, the Government as part of the measure towards revenue generation, has proposed to impose Land Replenishment-cum-Green Environment charge of Rs 30 per ton of mining rejects, charge for extracting ground water and has introduced a new tax for professionals and others whose monthly income is more than Rs 10,000. Taxes on liquor and beer have also been rationalised.
With the Budget size of Rs 6598-odd crore, the State finance ministry has come up with new sources to bring in huge revenue in the Additional Budget.
The estimated expenditure on new schemes and projects require an additional provision of Rs 119.77 crore whereas the additional revenue that is estimated to be collected amounts to Rs 516.40 crore, he stated in his speech in the Assembly. This, the chief minister said, will revise the Plan size to Rs 1993.77 crore and total revenue expenditure to Rs 4605.90 crore and total revenue receipts to Rs 4587.15 crore. Accordingly, the revenue deficit would get revised downwards to Rs 18.75 crore instead of the earlier estimated Rs 348.40 crore. Similarly, the fiscal deficit also would get revised downwards to Rs 482.54 crore from its earlier estimates of Rs 812.19 crore.
Thursday’s Additional Budget follows the Interim Budget Kamat presented in March this year when full-fledged Budget could not be presented in view of Model Code of Conduct enforced by Election Commission for the Lok Sabha polls.
In the Interim Budget presented in March, no new schemes/programmes nor any tax proposals for enhancing revenue had been included, Kamat said.
On the economic situation, the chief minister said that the state economy has been strong and moving on a high growth path as can be seen from the fact that the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is consistently been growing above 12% per annum. In absolute terms, the GSDP has increased from Rs 15,023.34 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 16, 901.26 crore in 2007-08 at current prices, he said in his Budget speech.
The chief minister pointed out that though Goa too was affected by the effects of global recession as slowdown was witnessed in the economic activities, the tax collection was to the tune of Rs 2108.99 crore in the last financial year as compared to Rs 1752.64 crore during the preceding year of 2007-08. However, the State’s share in central taxes which was earlier estimated at Rs 510 crore has gone down to Rs 444.02 crore due to fall in tax collection of the central Government. The chief minister admitted that notwithstanding the high revenue collection, there lies a huge challenge before the Government to attain balance between the fiscal prudence and increased Government expenditure to promote growth.
He said the Government has decided to enhance public spending to stimulate growth on one hand and create an environment conducive for private capital participation in the projects to be undertaken on Public Private Participation (PPP) model on the other.
What’s in for govt staff
For Government employees, the Government has doubled the house building advance ceiling and has offered Special Voluntary Retirement Scheme for those who have differently-abled and special children to look after. The chief minister said from the earlier maximum ceiling of Rs 15 lakh, the amount will be increased to Rs 30 lakh. This is being done as these days Rs 15 lakh is not sufficient to meet the housing needs, he said.
Being sensitive towards the problems faced by the family members while bringing up their children who are disabled and special, especially when both the parents are working, the Government has thought of the Special VRS. He said the modalities for the scheme are being worked out. However, a provision of Rs 100 lakh is made in the Budget. He also said that the Government is also intending to formulate a scheme to take care of such differently-abled and special children during the untimely death of their parents.
ADMINISTRATIVE COLLEGE: In order to make the administration sensitive to the people’s needs and expectations, the Government has proposed to set up a ‘Staff Administrative college’ to cater to the training and motivational requirements of Government employees, the chief minister said.
SECRETARIES’ PANEL: The chief minister also proposed to set up a high-level Committee of secretaries and other experts to look into the functioning of major departments and suggest measures to improve their performance. Besides, he also proposed to set up a Third Party audit – a mechanism to study the departments, their finances and to streamline them.
Relief for hotels
Chief Minister Digambar Kamat announced that the existing 3 per cent slab for luxury tax has been extended upto the room rates of Rs 1000 per day.
The 5 per cent rate slab has been extended from Rs 1500 to Rs 2500 and 8 per cent slab has been extended from Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 per day.
This accommodates the small, medium and also started hotels, he said. Hoteliers had requested for relief particularly as the last season was bad due to terror threats.
Entry toll for vehicles
In another revenue generating avenue, the Government has decided to levy entry toll on vehicles entering the State. The chief minister said around 15 lakh vehicles (by a rough estimate) enter the State annually but are not subjected to any entry toll. The wear and tear of the road and bridges is enormous for which the State is spending huge sums for repairs and maintenance, the chief minister said pointing out that the entry toll would help generate revenue for road repairs and maintenance. The Government expects to collect Rs 20 crore from this decision. The entry toll will not be applicable to two-wheelers. Meanwhile, the rate for transportation of coal and coke is hiked from Rs 50 per metric ton to Rs 250 per metric ton.
THE PROPOSED CHARGES
Type of Vehicle Toll Charge (per entry)
LMV (personal use) Rs 100
LMV Taxi Rs 150
Mini truck & mini buses Rs 150
Heavy vehicles Rs 250
Students get a booster
To recognise merit of students, the Government has announced a scheme of scholarships to students of tenth and twelfth classes. The Rajiv Gandhi Merit scholarship is for students of X and XII who secure first, second and third position in their respective schools, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat announced. The scholarship for Std X will be Rs 3000, Rs 2000 and Rs 1000 respectively while for Class XII, it will be Rs 4000, Rs 3000 and Rs 2000 respectively. The scheme will also cover vocational stream, he said.
BAKIBAB: For the year-long celebration of birth centenary of prominent Goan poet Bakibab Borkar, the Government has made a provision of Rs 12 lakh. The celebration will begin from November 30, 2009.
FIRST CM: Kamat also announced that birth centenary year of Goa’s first chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar will be celebrated from March 12, 2010.
EMINENT: The Government also announced instituting an award called Gomant Vibhushan award, to eminent personalities of Goan origin who have achieved excellence at the national and international levels in their respective fields and brought laurels to Goa. The award will carry cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a memento and a citation.
Courtesy: Herald, Goa Daily
One Comment