Vasundhara Raje presents deficit Budget, blames Congress

Consumers in Rajasthan will now have to pay more for online purchase of goods.

In a setback to e-commerce companies, chief minister Vasundhara Raje in her new Budget has proposed entry tax on goods brought into the state through e-commerce. Cigarettes and luxury hotel stays have also become costlier.

Despite estimating a substantial increase in the state’s own tax revenue and share in Central taxes and grants, the chief minister on her birthday presented a Budget high on both revenue and fiscal deficit with a plan size of Rs 99,693 crore.

The revenue deficit for the next financial year jumped to Rs 8,801 crore from Rs 5,231 crore while the fiscal deficit more than doubled to Rs 43,147 crore for the fiscal year 2016-17. Overall, the fiscal deficit after taking into account the impact of UDAY scheme would be Rs 67,000 crore, which is an additional frightening 9.99 per cent of the GSDP.

The red on the account books was largely due to a fall in crude prices, reduced share in Central taxes and an increase in subsidy payment to state’s power companies.

Blaming the erstwhile Congress government for mounting debt, the CM said losses of Rs 72000 crore accumulated by power companies during the Congress regime are now playing havoc with the state’s finances. The state government has now overtaken debt of state’s power companies to the tune of '60,000 crore under the Central government’s UDAY scheme to boost their financial health. The CM has chosen to give tax relief worth Rs 325 crore through VAT exemption on articles such as solar torches, biomass stoves, kerosene lamps, hurricane lanterns, kerosene wick stoves, and others.

The tax relief was balanced by increasing VAT on some items and changing tax norm for commercial vehicle worth more than Rs 10 lakh to ad valorem basis.