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Virbhadra proposes mild dose of taxes

SHIMLA, JUNE 8. The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, today proposed a mild dose of taxes to garner Rs. 15 crores to partially meet over Rs. 700 crores deficit in the current financial year.

Mr Singh, who also holds the finance portfolio, presenting the budget estimates for the on-going fiscal, said the revenue receipts had been estimated at Rs. 6,960.76 crores while revenue expenditure at Rs. 6,893.61 crores, leaving a surplus of Rs. 67.15 crores.

However, the opening deficit of the current financial year, inherited from the Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP government, being Rs. 770.94 crores, the year by March 31, 2005 would end in a net deficit of Rs. 703.79 crores.

To make up for some losses, Mr. Singh proposed a modest hike of special road tax on carriage of cement, tobacco, cigarettes and the like products. The fresh taxes levied to yield Rs. 15 crores were on road tax, carriage of cement, tobacco and on cotton yarn going out of the State. He proposed an increase of three per cent on special road tax to capture the increase in average occupancies in buses due to increase in the number of commuters. This measure will yield an additional resource mobilisation of about Rs. 6 crores.

The rate on the tax on carriage of cement was increased by 50 paise per bag and this would yield an additional revenue of Rs. 4.65 crores annually.

Mr. Singh assured the House that tax increase on cement bags aimed at ensuring `uniform taxation' on both cement and clinker.

He outlined the poor state of finances and high `indebtness' his Government had inherited from the BJP government. He said Himachal Pradesh had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on fiscal reforms with the Central Government, to enable it to reduce its revenue deficit. This, he said, would enable the State Government to get 15 per cent withheld revenue deficit grant of about Rs. 525 crores from the Centre, he added.

He said the debt swapping had been a major achievement of his Government, which had swapped over Rs. 2300 crores loans in just about a year, to save an interest liability of Rs. 100 crores per annum.

UNI

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