'Loopholes' in Budget picked out
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 09 2021:
Social researcher Serto Tonda has claimed to have identified loopholes in the Budget and urged the Government to devise a strategic plan to effectively collect revenues.
Speaking to media persons at Manipur Press Club today, Serto urged the legislature to study the inflation.
The State's revenue receipt is Rs 21520.04 crore according to the Budget Estimates 2021-22.This figure is inclusive of State's Own Tax Revenue-Rs 2054.60 crore (9.55%), Share in Central taxes and duties-Rs 4765.43 crore (22.14%), State's own non-tax revenue-Rs 387.55 crore (1.80%) and Grants from Centre-Rs 14312.46 crore (66.51%) .
He stated that the State's Own Tax Revenue is less than 10 percent which indicates that the State is not able to collect taxes from its offices and Government quarters.
The Government should see if the taxes collected from the taxpayers are reaching it.
As the State's own non-tax revenue is Rs 387.55 crore which is only about 1.8 percent, the Government should devise strategic plans and ways to collect the taxes more effectively.
As the Grants from Centre form 66.51 percent of the revenue receipt, it indicates that the State is heavily dependent on the Centre, he said.
As per the Budget Estimates, the revenue expenditure is about Rs 19970 crore (78.33%) and Capital Outlay is Rs 5526 crore (21.67%).Like in previous years, the revenue expenditure is exceeding the capital outlay.
As such the State would not be able to do much capital development work, he said.
When the Budget focuses on Community and Rural Development, Education, Police and Finance Department, the decrease in the funding in the healthcare sector is worrying especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
The Budget 2020-21 had earmarked Rs 109973.53 crore, however this has been reduced to Rs 109556 crore in the Budget 2021-22 .
Further, in the backdrop of the State's drive against poppy cultivation and plans to provide alternative crops in the hill areas, the Budget has shown little to achieve this.
The Budget should have earmarked more funds for the Horticulture and Soil Conservation and Commerce and Industries Departments.
There is not much change in the funds earmarked for these Departments from previous year, he said.