Our Correspondent Kohima | November 14 Nagaland’s finance department OSD V. Kezo today said that the state tax revenue grew from Rs. 46.25 crores during 2000-01 to Rs. 638.28 crore during 2018-19. Much of the improvements in revenue collection were made possible due to computerisation of functioning, especially of the Taxes Department under VAT and GST, he said this during the valedictory session of two day long “Workshop for building capacities for taking forward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nagaland” here today at Hotel Vivor. Making a power point presentation on financing planning and resources, he said both these new tax regimes saw a significant increase in the tax base. “However, the state’s own resources are still far too less to fund developmental activities, and is entirely spent on revenue expenditure,” he said. At present, he said, revenue expenditure accounts for about 85.87% of the total budget of the state, while capital expenditure accounts for about 9.50%. “While there is scope to increase revenues through improvement of systems, there is a limitation of a small tax base. As such, the scope for mobilising substantial revenues is limited. There is need for all departments to streamline their functions and look at avenues for earning revenues for the state, no matter how small the amount,” Kezo said. Eventually, these will lead to a good amount sufficient to fund developmental expenditure, he said. He said the gap between allocations and expenditure arose mostly due to reasons such as incorporation of unrealistic targets for state taxes and inclusion of a substantial component under Externally Aided Program which were seldom accessed. He said there were also some years when the Planning Commission decided to take into account the unreconciled balances shown by RBI on 31st March as an available resource for the next year’s Plan. In reality, the account balance was always in deficit when finally reconciled by RBI. This resulted in an immediate developmental deficit, he said. Profile of state’s finances & resources • Nagaland attained statehood during the Third Plan period (1961-66). • The first Plan had an approved outlay of Rs. 1.22 crore (1961-62). Actual expenditure was Rs. 93 lakhs, which is 76.23% of the outlay. • The last Plan outlay under the erstwhile Planning Commission was during 2016-17 amounting to Rs. 3885.30 crores inclusive of CSS. • From 2013-14 onwards, NEC/NLCPR were incorporated into State Plan. • From 2014-15 onwards, restructured CSS/flagship programs were also incorporated into the State Plan. • From statehood till the last Plan of 2016-17 under the erstwhile Planning Commission, the total Plan allocation of Nagaland is Rs. 28,563.84 crores. • Against this allocation, total expenditure was Rs. 23,157.26 crores. This is 81% of the total outlay, leaving a deficit of Rs. 5407.13 crores.
