Amid burgeoning public debt and constraints in meeting the widening gap between revenue and expenditure, the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the planning and finance departments, on Thursday directed the government departments to further step up revenue mobilisation by curbing evasion. At the same time, he has ruled out the possibility of further burdening the citizens by raising various taxes but asked the departments to come forward with new and innovative ways of increasing the state’s revenue. His message to the department officers was to work two steps ahead of tax evaders.
Pawar, who last week during the monsoon session had told the legislature that he would review the present state of finances and may got for harsh measures to curb soaring expenditure and increase revenue, directed the revenue earning departments including GST, VAT, Stamp and Registration Duty, State Excise, Transport, Energy, Industry, Revenue to work on a war footing to further increase the revenue. He said a five member committee comprising senior officers should be established to study and recommend the suggestions and measures to increase tax collection and thereby to earn more revenue.
Making a strong case for a revenue hike, Pawar said it was essential to keep the state at the forefront in the development path. ‘’However, instead of putting the burden on the citizens, emphasis should be placed on increasing revenue by preventing tax evasion,’’he reiterated.
Pawar’s meeting with the department heads come at a time when the state government has estimated a revenue deficit of Rs 16,122 crore (0.42% of the gross state domestic product) and fiscal deficit of Rs 95,501 crore (2.46% of the gross state domestic product) in 2023-24. Further, the state’s own tax revenue was estimated at Rs 2,98,181 crore, non tax revenue at Rs 24,170 crore, share in central taxes at Rs 64,525 crore and grant in aid from central government at Rs 62,647 crore for 2023-24. Further, Maharashtra’s debt was expected to be over Rs 7.07 lakh crore.
He asked the departments to provide necessary facilities to the officers and employees who bring revenue to the state as well as to the citizens who come to the offices to pay taxes. Disadvantages of taxpayers should be removed.
Pawar said the Transport Department should address the shortcomings in the functioning of the driving license system. Accidents occur as the driving licenses are wrongly issued. To prevent this, the Deputy Chief Minister also directed that all transport offices in the state should develop an up-to-date system for conducting vehicle tests and driving tests.
In the recruitment advertisement issued by some departments of the state government, it has been observed that a separate examination fee is charged for each post. Pawar said it was quite unfair to the examiners and suggested that a uniform fee should be charged for all the posts in one common advertisement.
Close on the heels of the launch of revamp, improvement and beautification of over 500 railway states across India by the Centre, Pawar directed that the State Transport stands should be revamped on the same lines. He added at least 50 ST stands should be beautified in the first phase.
