No new taxes in Tamil Nadu’s deficit budget for 2010-11

CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan Friday presented a deficit budget for fiscal 2010-11 in which he proposed no new taxes, reduced tax rates on many items and announced the creation of a separate department for the differently abled.

“The total revenue receipts of the government for 2010-11 are estimated at Rs.63,091.74 crore and the total revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs.66,488.19 crore. Accordingly, the revenue deficit is estimated at Rs.3,396.45 crore,” he said in the assembly.

He said the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations was the main reason for the deficit.

Anbazhagan also announced a number of welfare measures.

He raised the procurement price paid to sugarcane farmers to Rs.2,000 per tonne -including transport cost and recovery based incentive - from the next fiscal.

For the current crushing season the government will pay an additional Rs.100 per tonne taking the total procurement price to Rs.1,650 per tonne, he said.

Citing a crop loan disbursement of Rs.2,013 crore during 2009-2010, as against the target of Rs.2,000 crore, he said the target for the coming fiscal would be Rs.2,500 crore.

Another Rs.140 crore to waive interest on cooperative crop loans had been provided in the budget.

The budget allocates Rs.500 crore for the free distribution of 4.48 million colour TV sets by the end of December.

He also abolished tuition fees of all students pursuing postgraduate courses in government arts and science colleges from the ensuing academic year.

Listing out the new investments that the state has attracted since 2006, Anbazhagan said an industrial park will be set up by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) in Viluppuram district.

He said the total capital expenditure, including loans and advances (net), for the coming financial year was projected at Rs.12,825.68 crore. The projected fiscal deficit will be Rs.16,222.13 crore.

“This would constitute 3.7 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). Taking into account the net Public Account, the overall deficit will be Rs.8 crore,” he said, adding that the deficit would be lowered by cutting expenditure and through better tax administration.

Declaring that the state had achieved all the targets set by the central government regarding revenue and fiscal deficit in the last four years, Anbazhagan said: “The fiscal deficit for the year 2010-11 is permissible as per the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission.”