MLA's charge
- Public debt had almost doubled from Rs 5,623 crore as on March 31, 2009 to Rs 10,836 crore as on March 31, 2015
- People need to know why the State is depending heavily on loans instead of ensuring effective tax compliance
- The economic surveys of state government since 2012-13 are silent on this point
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SALIGAO
Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte has submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, demanding a white paper on the impact of Goods and Service Tax (GST) on State tax revenue and the state government's road map for prudent management of public finance in post GST environment and related fiscal matters.
In his memorandum, Khaunte stated that public debt had almost doubled from Rs 5,623 crore as on March 31, 2009 to Rs 10,836 crore as on March 31, 2015 and may exceed Rs 12,000 crore by this year. He has demanded that this white paper be made available by October end.
“People need to know why the State government is depending heavily on loans instead of ensuring effective tax compliance. The economic surveys of state government since 2012-13 are silent on this point. People suspect that government is providing huge subsidies to certain people and certain lobbies and pressure groups by not being serious in stringent and verifiable enforcement of VAT Act and rules,” stated Khaunte in his memorandum.
“The Government has admitted lack of proper enforcement of Value Added Tax and Rules 2005 resulting in gross under collection of tax revenue. There is hardly any mechanism to ensure strict compliance. The government has failed to provide correct details of the dealers who have failed to register despite exceeding their turnover limits.”
“This is because government has not done exhaustive field inspection and gathered economic intelligence for the purpose of calculating the limit of turnover for liability to tax. This has resulted in evasion of VAT by unregistered dealers and fly-by-night operators, raising big question marks of claims of state government of a buoyant situation in post GST scenario.”
“The people need the white paper to show if the rates remain the same then how losses to the state after reduction in VAT revenue in post GST would be compensated and for small state like Goa would this be done beyond 5 years,” wondered the Porvorim MLA.
Khaunte noted that in the tourism belt stretching from Keri–Tirakhol to Sinquerim, non compliance of VAT Act and rules under Section 3 and 11(3) has resulted in an estimated VAT leakage of Rs 1,000 to 1,500 crore annually.
“The state government has also no reliable statistics on income generated from tourism industry for computation of expected income from VAT. So, people need to know in a white paper the total expenditure by domestic and foreign tourists in Goa for estimates of VAT revenue and Revenue leakages,” added Khaunte's memorandum.
