To ease Covid pain, Yediyurappa presents Budget with no new taxes

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday said he proposes no new taxes in his State budget but to promote affordable housing, the government has decided to reduce the stamp duty to 3 per cent from 5 per cent for the registration of apartments valued between ₹35 lakh and ₹45 lakh.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has caused untold miseries to the general public. I am not willing to put the burden of additional taxes on the common people,” Yediyurappa presenting his eighth State Budget, said.

“The State government levy on petrol and diesel is already lesser compared with other southern States. Despite this, the Budget has been formulated in such a way that there will not be an increase of the financial burden of the common man,” he added.

Financial position

On account of the Covid lockdown, the share of central taxes payable to the states has been reduced in the revised estimates. Hence, the share of the state in central taxes has come down to ₹20,053 crore in the revised estimates from the budgetary estimates of ₹28,591 crore in 2020-21.

As per the Revised Estimates of 2020-21, the total receipts are at ₹2,30,381 crore compared to the Budget Estimates of ₹2,33,134 crore. The revenue mobilisation efforts of the State has seen a decline due to the Covid-19 pandemic and total revenue receipts collected is ₹1,59,709 crore, out of which the Own Tax Revenue is ₹1,17,782 crore including the GST compensation. As per the Revised Estimates, the total expenditure is ₹2,29,925 crore. This is an increase of 2.6 per cent over 2019-20.

The total receipts are estimated to be ₹2,43,734 crore during 2021-22. This includes Revenue receipts of ₹1,72,271 crore and Capital receipts of ₹71,463 crore, including Borrowings of ₹71,332 crore. The Total expenditure is estimated to be ₹2,46,207 crore, including Revenue expenditure of ₹1,87,405 crore, Capital expenditure of ₹44,237 crore and debt repayment of ₹14,565 crore. The Revenue Deficit is estimated to be ₹15,134 crore. Fiscal deficit is expected to be ₹59,240 crore, which is 3.48 percent of GSDP. The total liabilities at the end of 2021-22 is estimated to be ₹4,57,899 crore, which is 26.9 percent of the GSDP. Suitable amendment will be brought to the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act 2002 in this regard.

Resource mobilisation

The total Own Tax Revenue of the State, including the GST compensation, for the year 2021-22 is estimated at ₹1,24,202 crore. ₹8,258 crore is expected to be collected from Non-Tax Revenues. The government expects to receive ₹24,273 crore by way of the share in Central Taxes and ₹15,538 crore in the form of Central grants. These revenue receipts are estimated to be supplemented by gross borrowings of ₹71,332 crore, non-debt capital receipts of Rs ₹40 crore and recovery of loans of ₹91 crore.

Commercial tax/GST

The revenue collection target for the Commercial Taxes Department for the year 2020-21 was fixed at ₹82,443 crore and a revenue of ₹71,833 crore was mobilised by the end of February. The revenue collection target for the Commercial Taxes Department for the year 2021-22 is fixed at ₹76,473 crore.

Stamps and Registration

The revenue collection target for the Stamps and Registration Department for the year 2020-21 was fixed at ₹12,655 crore and a revenue of ₹9,014 crore is mobilized by the end of February. The revenue collection target of ₹12,655 crore is given to the Stamps and Registration Department for the year 2021-22.

Excise

The revenue collection target for the Excise Department for the year 2020-21 has been fixed at ₹22,700 crore and a revenue of ₹20,900 crore has been mobilised by the end of February. The target fixed will be achieved. The revenue collection target for the Excise Department for the year 2021-22 is fixed at ₹24,580 crore.

Transport

The revenue collection target for the year 2020-21 has been fixed at ₹7,115 crore and a revenue of ₹4,294 crore has been mobilised by the end of January. A total collection target of ₹7,515 crore is fixed for the year 2021-22.