Ranchi: The Hemant Soren government faces an uphill task to fulfil the budgetary proposals of Rs 91,277 crore for the 2021-22 financial year and is very unlikely to generate the target revenue unless meticulous planning and implementation were not made, experts said on Thursday.
Notably, finance minister Rameshwar Oraon presented the proposals in the ongoing budget session on Wednesday in which the government expects to mobilise Rs 23,265.42 crore from taxes and Rs 13,500 crore from non-tax sectors. It is also hoping to get Rs 17,891.48 crore as central assistance, Rs 22,050 crore as tax share from the Centre and Rs 14,500 crore from public debt.
Economist Ramesh Sharan said the government has increased the size of the budget for the next fiscal and it is doubtful whether it would be able to generate the huge revenue to fulfil the commitments.
He said, “In the past, the actual revenue collections of the government has been less than the budget estimates leading to cuts in the expenditures. I suggest forming a committee of experts to detect any leakages in the revenue mobilisation system and taking action on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India reports, too.”
Social and food rights activist Balram said that in the past, the CAG has pointed out that revenue mobilisation was not up to the expected level and that the government should take the report seriously.
Balram, however, said it would have been a wrong step to reduce the budget size as many essential issues like infrastructure and food security must be addressed.
Former president of the Federation of Jharkhand Chambers of Commerce and Industries, Deepak Maroo, said revenue mobilisation will be a challenge for the government, which is already under pressure to reduce VAT to curb the rising fuel prices.
He added that the government should generate revenue by attracting investments in the mines and could consult the trading communities to plug the leakages in tax collections.