No new taxes in Tripura budget of Rs 8119.47 crore

AGARTALA: Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury today presented a deficit budget of Rs 8119.47 crore for the year 2012-13 with no new taxes and increasing the retirement age of government employees from 58 to 60 from the next financial year.

The total receipts in budget 2012-13 have been pegged at Rs 7970.11 crore that is 13 per cent higher over the last year's provision, which includes Rs 893.41 crore of state's Own Tax Revenue and Rs 178.34 crore of non tax revenue.

The budget deficit is pegged at Rs 149.33 crore and the deficit would be realized by austerity measures, improvement in revenue collection and fiscal discipline, Chowdhury and added that in the last 14 years, the state did not had to resort for over draft due to sound cash management.

The budget like previous years did not propose any new taxes in 2012-13. The total expenditure in budget 2012-13 has been projected at Rs 8119.47 crore up from Rs 7054.72 of the revised estimates of 2011-12 a hike of 15.1 percent.

Chowdhury said the state government proposes to increase the retirement age of government employees from 58 to 60 from the next financial year as a welfare measures for the employees.

Revenue receipts and capital receipts are projected at Rs 7164.14 crore and Rs 806 crore respectively.

The Finance Minister said, state has achieved a robust growth rate of 25.16 percent in collection of Own Tax Revenue in the first three quarters of the current year. The highest growth rate has been in VAT collection which stands at 35.4 percent.