In the backdrop of reduced devolution of the Central taxes to the state as per the award of the 13th Finance Commission (TFC) and the need for mobilisation of additional resources for accelerating the pace of development, the Orissa government has formed an Expert Committee to suggest measure to enhance state’s own revenue.
It is headed by the former state election commissioner of Orissa, Sanjib Chandra Hota and has Pulin B Nayak (Professor, Delhi School of Economics), Tapas Sen (Senior Fellow, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy) and Deepak Mohanty (Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India) as members. One additional secretary (resources) in the finance department has been appointed as the convener.
The committee would examine revenue accrual from existing tax and non-tax sources with reference to the potential available and suggest required measures for higher revenue realisation from these sources. Apart from new sources for mobilisation of resources, it would identify measures required for augmenting the state’s own revenue.
Meanwhile, the collection of commercial taxes surged by 14.83 percent in 2009-10 compared to 2008-09. The total collection of commercial taxes was Rs 6348.57 crore during the last fiscal against Rs 5528.8 crore in the previous fiscal. Revival of economic activities has helped the government to achieve about 15 percent growth in the collections, sources said. While collection of VAT increased by 15.78 percent to Rs 4932.1 crore, the collection from Central Sales Tax (CST) declined by 7.46 percent to Rs 493.76 crore.
