The state government in collaboration with the Xavier University has decided to establish a Centre of Excellence in Fiscal Policy and Taxation (CEFIT) in the city.
For creation of this centre, the government has budgeted Rs 12 crore in the Budget for 2015-16.
The establishment of the 'Centre of Excellence' is expected to institutionalise the process of implementing the Odisha Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2005.
The centre is envisaged to serve the larger purpose of making research on the overall fiscal policies of the state, providing assistance to the finance department for budgetary activities, providing analysis on fiscal and taxation issues and also providing training for the officers of the finance department.
"The Centre of Excellence will be set up at the Xavier Institute of Management, the city campus," said vice chancellor of Xavier University Paul Fernandes.
The mission of the 'Centre of Excellence' would be to position itself as the first point of reference for policy research in tune with the sound principles of taxation and matching principles of FRBM Act.
Objectives of the centre are providing quantitative and qualitative fiscal reports and to advise decision makers, offering short term and long-term Budget outlook, providing specialised training for tax officials and officers from the finance department, publishing research work and journals and providing forum for interaction between the officials of finance department and academicians.
The centre would provide a platform for proactive in fiscal management and taxation policy by making available relevant data, evaluation of potential outcomes of policy options, revenue forecasting, expenditure planning and analysis, project financing, project management, specialised training programme for capacity building and consultancy services in taxation and allied subjects.
To make the centre operational, the state government will allot a corpus of Rs 12 crore to Xavier University. The vice chancellor of Xavier University would be the head of the centre. The chair professor of the centre would be appointed by the vice chancellor. Two more professors will facilitate activities of the centre and coordinate the research allotted to them by the chair professor.
The board members of the centre would consist of the additional chief secretary (finance), vice chancellor of Xavier University, commissioner of commercial taxes, secretaries of departments of industries, energy and cooperation, chair professor and two reputed academic experts in the domain of public finance.
After inauguration, the centre would take up study on tax gap analysis in motor vehicle sector, estimation of long-term elasticity for commercial taxes, analysis on electricity duties and AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses of electricity distribution sector, debt sustainability indicators of the state and impact of audit visit on commercial tax revenue.
