Opposition MLAs have demanded that the BJP led government present a white paper on the State’s financial condition. The Opposition has accused the government of adding more burden on the government coffers by organising the National Games, when there is already revenue leakage and unplanned tax management. There is no doubt that the State government will have to constantly beg for help from the Centre, if they keep on spending huge amounts on grand events without actually planning to recover the cost through revenues. The government is yet to come up with solid resolutions to fix the State’s economy which was affected due to the ban on mining and later the Covid pandemic’s fallout on the tourism sector.
In fact, the government is better remembered for the corruption during Covid times and the accusations levelled by former governor Satyapal Malik are well known. The crucial question is why is the government not taking any steps to reduce the fiscal deficit by doing away with the unnecessary spending? The budget of Rs 24,571 crore presented by the government shows the fiscal deficit of Rs 4,308 crore which is 4.3% of the State’s GDP. This is more than the 3.5% rate allowed by the Central government. If the government does not properly manage the tax collection and increase the revenue, how do they intend to bring down the rate to 3% by next year as claimed in the budget? Or will they be asking from the Centre again? The government in its report has shown that the State has reduced the help from the Centre down to 50% compared to last year at Rs 1670 crore. The government also claimed to earn Rs 14,615 crore revenue through various taxes.
In short, the government contends that there will be an increase of Rs 2,000 crore in the treasury compared to last year. However, does the government have any clear plan to do this? Is the government taking any tangible steps? A Congress MLA had demanded that the chief minister give serious consideration to stopping the leakage in revenue. There will definitely be revenue deficit when lakhs of litres of alcohol is going out of the State by evading taxes. AAP, by conducting a sting operation two days ago, alleged that the government is losing lakhs of rupees in revenue as corruption largely persists at RTO check-posts. If there is truth to the allegations made by AAP, will the government take steps to curb the corruption?
The government in its budget is expecting a growth of staggering 132% in land revenue but meeting this goal requires a disciplined planning. The government is bound to spend funds in basic sectors such as health, education, infrastructure and drinking water. However, except for the health sector which will get 3% added expenditure, the government has increased less than 1% for other sectors. Therefore, the provisions in the budget does not indicate extreme stress on the government coffers and yet if the government is still in deficit, then it is safe to say that the authorities lack planning. The allotment of shacks is yet to be done with the State well into the tourism season already. In fact, there are serious objections to the government’s new shacks policy. MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira has said that due to this, there is a possibility of inexperienced investors from other States getting into the shacks business to evade excise duty. He has appealed to the chief minister for an immediate meeting since if approval for supplementary grants has to be taken, the code of conduct after December for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls could prove to be a hurdle.
Goa is entirely dependent on other States for electricity where the state has budgeted Rs 1850 crore to buy power, while there are no other taxes provisioned except the electricity bills. The collection of increased fees in new shack policy and other taxes has to be recovered properly. The government should also show courage to stop the corruption brewing in its various departments. There are illegal laterite mines operational in many parts of the State. Will the government take action on them? The expenditure on the government’s popular schemes is burning a hole in the treasury. Will the government stop the leakage by sorting out bogus beneficiaries? There are innumerable hotels and villas in the State which are illegal. Will the government comb them out and hold them accountable to pay the due taxes? There are various ways to increase revenue by curbing corruption. Just levying minor charges on ferry rides will not give a major boost to the revenue collection.
