Bengaluru, Mar 18 (PTI): Petrol, diesel and Indian Made Liquor (IML) will get costlier as the Karnataka government has proposed higher taxes in the state Budget 2016-17, which focuses on development of agriculture and rural areas as well as the Capital city.
The Motor Vehicles Tax has also been raised at different rates to mop up Rs 121 crore.
Presenting the budget in the Assembly, Chief Minister Siddarmaiah, who holds the Finance portfolio, also raised the Value Added Tax from 14.5 per cent to 20 per cent on aerated and carbonated non-alcholic beverages.
Hikes in rate of tax on petrol and diesel, additional excise duty across 17 slabs on IML and Motor Vehicles Tax have been proposed in the Budget.
The CM also announced the setting up of separate authorities for the controversial Yettinahole project in Dakshina Kannada and also for the Bhadra Meldande project.
The budget, Siddaramaiah's fourth as Chief Minister and 11th in his political career, also gave a big thrust to infrastructure development in Bengaluru to address the woes of the country's IT hub.
Tax exemption has been retained on paddy, rice, wheat, pulses and products of rice and wheat for one more year.
He also exempted VAT on processed ragi, Jowar Roti, native food of north Karnataka and Ragi Roti, native food of south Karnataka, aluminium household utensils, barring pressure cooker and cutlery, and handmade paper and paper boards.
Noting that Karnataka had not raised the tax on diesel and petrol in the middle of the year and passed on the benefits of fall in international crude oil prices, he proposed hike in tax rate on petrol from 26 per cent to 30 per cent and diesel from 16.65 per cent to 19 per cent.
This would increase the price of petrol by Rs 1.89 per litre and diesel by 98 paise per litre, he said, adding that the measure was being taken keeping the state resources in mind for the welfare needs.
Siddaramaiah also increased the Entertainment Tax from 6 per cent to 10 per cent on Multi System Operators and Direct to Home service providers considering "rapid changes over the years in the field".
Meeting the long standing demand of growers of coffee, tea, rubber and other plantation crops, he abolished Agricultural Income Tax.
In the budgetary proposals, the government also decided to continue the scheme of disbursing short term agricultural loans up to Rs 3 lakh at zero interest rate and medium and long term agricultural loans up to Rs 10 lakh at 3 per cent interest.
It targets disbursing Rs 11,000 crore as agricultural loans to 23 lakh farmers during 2016-17.
For Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah announced Rs 5,000 crore as Chief Minister's special package, including developing roads of 1,500 km to provide alternative routes within the road network and all round development of IT-BT hubs in the city.
He sought a Vote on Account for the expenditure up to July 31, 2016. VAT rates have also been reduced from 14.5 to 5.5 per cent on set top boxes for viewing TV content, multi-media speakers, helmets, LED bulbs, adult diapers to help senior citizens, office files made of paper and paper boards and surgical gowns, masks and caps and drapes of single use made of non-woven fabrics.
The Excise Duty on IML has been proposed to be increased from Rs 45 to 50 and Excise Duty on beer from Rs 5 to Rs 10. Also, Additional Excise Duty on beer has been raised from 135 to 150 per cent. It is also proposed to levy an administrative fee of Rs 2 per litre on export and Rs one a litre on import of spirit, excluding ethanol.
On the Motor Vehicles Tax front, the levy has been raised on private stage carriage vehicles from Rs 600 to Rs 900 per seat, private city service stage carriage from Rs 300 to Rs 450 per seat, contract carriages from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per seat and all India tourist omni buses from Rs 2,750 to Rs 3,500 per seat.
Considering that electric vehicles are eco-friendly, they have been fully exempt from payment of taxes.
Siddaramaiah said the government has decided to "add sheen" to the "charisma of Brand Bengaluru", known as the country's IT capital and Startup Capital.
He said Rs 500 crore for solid waste management, Rs 100 crore for lake development, effective traffic management and development of three major markets of heritage value are proposed for Bengaluru.
In addition to Rs 1,000 crore under "Nagarothana plan", Rs 2,158 crore under Special Investment Plan and Rs. 1064.73 crore through Finance Commission and other grants, Rs 4,222.73 crore was being provided to Bengaluru civic body, he said.
Highlights
- Monthly compensation to widows of farmers, who committed suicide, increased from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000
- Rs 125 crore for welfare of Christian community
- Rs 25 crore to complete work on Haj Bhavan
- Rs 50 crore for Shadi Mahal, Rs 60 crore for Bidai scheme
- Rs 222 crore for IT development; Rs 8 crore for establishing Vision Group
- Prof M M Kalburgi Research Centre and Award in Dharwad University
- Bengaluru: Rs 4,222 crore alloted for BBMP
- Infrastructure development: Rs 750 crore earmarked
- Rs 5,532 crore set aide for revenue department
- Colleges: Chamarajanagar, Karawar and Madikeri to get medical colleges, Bidar to get a government engineering college, Kalburgi Research Centre to be set up at Karnataka University at Dharwad
- CM relaxes section 79 (A) of Karnataka Land Reform Act
- About 13,370 acres of encroached land recovered
- Rail based mass transit system for decongesting traffic in Bengaluru
- Rs 60-crore government hospital to come up in Mysuru
- 12 percent of the budget earmarked for rducation sector
- Rs 500 crore allocated for solid waste management
- Rs 100 crore for lake development in Bengaluru
- Rs 800 crore allocated for storm water drain management in Bengaluru
- Separate authorities to be set up for Yettinahole and Bhadra Meldande projects
- Two reaches of Namma Metro Phase-II to be completed by 2020
- Special package of Rs 5,000 crore for Bengaluru
- Beer to become more expensive; helmets, paper, LED bulbs cheaper
- State excise tax target: 16,510 crore
- Commercial tax target set at 51,338 crore
- Rs 3,000 crore set aside for irrigation projects during 2016-17
- Electric vehicles exempted from tax
- Reduction in tax on medical equipment
- Set-top box to cost less
- Cigarettes to be costlier
- State vehicle tax target set to Rs 5,160 crore and others Rs 1,756 crore
- Rs 750 crore allotted to horticultural sector
- Agri-clinic to be set-up in collaboration with premier management institute IIM-B and GKVK agricultural university through PPP model
- Agricultural department has been given budget outlay of Rs 4,344 crore
- New scheme 'Suvarna Krishi Grama Yojana' for agricultural welfare
- Tax on petrol hiked to 30 percent from 26 percent, tax on diesel hiked from 16.5 percent to 19 percent
- Hike in tax on soft drinks
- DTH to be costlier
- 6 percent hike in entertainment tax
- Service sector is expected to grow by 9.1 percent
- 2016-17 budget size: 1,63,419 crore
- Planned outlay Rs 85,375 crore
Allocations:
Women and Child Welfare - Rs 4,497 crore
Revenue - Rs 5,532 crore
IT, BT and Science - Rs 222 crore
E-governance - Rs 115 crore
Housing Department - Rs 3,890 crore
Backward Classes Welfare Department - Rs 2,503 crore
Primary and Secondary Eduation - Rs 17,373 crore
Higher Education - Rs 4,651 crore
Social Welfare Department - Rs 5,464 crore
Water resources - Rs 14,477 crore
Horticulture - Rs 753 crore
Animal husbandry - Rs 1886 crore
Agriculture - Rs 4,034 crore
Energy - Rs 12.6 crore
PWD - Rs 79.22 crore