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Tax-free, Rs 600.36 Cr deficit budget presented for the FY 2022-23; restructuring growth potential: Assam Budget

BNE ADMIN


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Guwahati: State Finance Minister Ajanta Neog today presented a Rs 600.36 crore deficit budget for the year 2022-23 without putting any additional tax burden on the people.

However, even though there were no immediate tax proposals, Neog said the State government would be levying a 'Green Tax' on the use of old vehicles and proposed to "optimize" excise revenue collection through a slew of new measures like restructuring of the excise duties and upward revision in licence fees for urban areas.

To augment the contribution of the forestry sector to the State exchequer, the government is also working on upward revision and rationalization of royalty rates of forest produce as well as various entry fees, etc., collected from national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and social forestry parks.

In the first full-fledged budget of the present government, Neog laid a fresh thrust on the environment and upgraded of the health and education infrastructure, besides extending the ongoing social sector schemes.

The aggregate receipt for the year is estimated at Rs 283,914.78 crore, while the expenditure is estimated at Rs 283,494.64 crore. The estimated transactions during the year will result in an estimated surplus of Rs. 420.14 crore. This, together with the opening deficit of Rs, 1,020.50 crores will lead to a budget deficit of Rs 600.36 crore at the end of the financial year 2022-23.

In her 123-page budget speech, Neog said the government is developing an ambitious reform agenda to unlock Assam's growth potential over the medium term, focusing on policy and institutional reforms detailed with downstream investments in allied sectors.

"The reform agenda focuses on three broad areas. The first area focuses on boosting trade, increasing investments, and generating jobs. The second area will increase resilience to increasingly frequent and severe climate-related shocks, consolidate funds earmarked for green initiatives and catalyze - both public and private - green investment," she said.

"The third area will focus on the development of the agriculture and tourism sectors to increase their potential. In this context, the government is engaging with external aid agencies and development partners to support its reform agenda. It is expected that the reforms identified will pave the way for development projects in the related sectors," she said.

Insisting that some of the State government's social sector schemes like Orunodoi are fast becoming a phenomenon, Neog proposed to introduce the 'Assam Family Identity Card' so that beneficiary-oriented schemes can be better targeted.

In terms of budget size, the finance department, which is also the nodal department for all DBT (direct benefit transfer) schemes in the State and implements social sector schemes like Orunodoi, Apon Ghar, Bidyalakshmi, and Abhinandan, tops with Rs 22,380 crore, followed by elementary education with a budget size of Rs 9,555 crore. Neog said that while several budgetary reforms in the form of Gender Budget,

Child Budget, Divyang Budget, and Outcome Budget have been introduced in recent times, next year the government plans to introduce Research and Development Budget.

She further said that during the current financial year (up to February 2022), the tax department has mopped up an amount of Rs 14,470 crore compared to Rs 12,101 crore in the same period of the previous financial year despite the second and third waves of the Covid-19 pandemic hitting the economy.

"As the pandemic recedes, Assam's economy is also recovering well and is in much better position to tackle any other Covid-19 related contingencies in future. In 2020 21 and 2021-2022, Assam was one of the few states showing tremendous growth despite the pandemic," she said.

The Finance Minister said that through external assistance, while projects worth close to Rs 16,843 crore are under various stages of execution, projects worth over Rs 10,000 crore are in a conceptual stage which is proposed to be posed to the Government of India in this financial year. Most of these projects are capital intensive for infrastructure development, boosting jobs, and long-term economic growth.

"The Government of India has been supporting the State through special assistance for capital expenditure amounting to Rs 600 crore in the current financial year and for the year 2022-23, a substantial allocation is expected," she said.

Noting the problems plaguing the tea industry, the Finance Minister extended for another three years the decision to keep in abeyance the levy and payment of tax on green tea leaves under the Assam Taxation (on Specified Land) Act, 1990.

In order to have a liquidation scheme for payment of arrear dues, the State government is also introducing a new Bill in the current session of the Assembly.

BNE ADMIN