No tax sops, thanks to GST

No tax concessions were  announced in the budget estimates as VAT would be replaced by GST, said Finance Minister D Jayakumar while presenting his budget in the Assembly here on Thursday. 

Commercial taxes revenue was estimated at Rs 66,522 crore in the revised estimates for 2016-17 while it was pegged at Rs 77, 234 crore in the current budget,” Jayakumar added. 

The government’s decision to close 1,000 TASMAC shops was expected to impact resources due to which excise duty was expected to be only Rs 6, 903 crore in the present year, the Minister said. Similarly, the state witnessed negative growth in stamp duty and registration fee collection which was projected at Rs 8, 220 crore for 2017 18. Motor vehicle tax collection was anticipated at Rs 5,418 crore, he said.  

These measures led to a downward revision of SOTR in the 2016-17 revised estimates and pegged at Rs 99, 590 crore in the budget estimate for 2017-18, according to the Finance Minister. 

Referring to the adverse impact of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations, Jayakumar said that Tamil Nadu received only Rs 20,354 crore as devolution fund in 2015-16 which recorded a growth rate of only 20.98 per cent over the previous financial year. 

The net increase stood at 2.98 per cent when the growth rate was discounted with the normal central government tax collections of 18 per cent in 2015-16. Thus, the share in central taxes in the revised estimates was Rs 24, 538 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 27, 224 crore in the present budget, he added.

The assembly witnessed an uproar when Finance Minister mentioned “Chinnamma” the jailed AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew and party deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran at the budget presentation on Thursday. Opposition leader MK Stalin was immediately on his feet demanding to know whether it was right to refer to a person who had been convicted by the Supreme Court.

Floor leader K Sengottayan said there was nothing wrong in mentioning the name of a party leader as even the Election Commission allowed a convicted person to contest elections. 

Replying, Stalin said it would create a wrong precedent if the name of a person sentenced to four years imprisonment by the Supreme Court and fined Rs 100 crore, who would be unable to participate in politics for the next 10 years was mentioned in the house. The tumult died down following Speaker P Dhanapal stating that their objection had been recorded.

Police: Rs 6, 483 crore for the department. Rs.253 crore for Fire and Rescue Services.

Health: Rs. 10, 158 crore for department. Rs.15.09 crore for 96 polyclinics in urban PHCs.

Water resource and irrigation: Rs 4, 791 crore for department. Rs.400 crore for Climate Change Adaptation Programme.

Highways: Rs.160 crore for State Highway and MDR widening. Rs.744 crore for four/six laning of 142 Km around Chennai.  

Environment and forest: Rs.567 crore for department. Rs.13 crore for Post Vardah greening project