THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Friday said the revenue arrears mentioned in the report of the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) were of the past 50 years and included cases under litigation and those in which the defaulter died.
“The government will take efforts to collect the amount. An amendment in the relevant law is required for this,” he said, As per the CAG report, state had total revenue arrears of Rs 21,797.86 crore, of which Rs 7,100.32 crore was outstanding for more than five years. The report had dealt a huge blow to the government which is facing public ire for announcing new tax proposals in the budget.
“There are legal issues in collecting VAT arrears. The amendment will help the government in launching a mechanism for filing appeal petitions on arrears and their clearance,” said Balagopal, adding that the public accounts committee of the assembly will study the CAG report.
The finance minister reiterated that the government was taking every effort to protect the state’s interests. “The state’s own tax revenue rose significantly since 2021, despite consecutive floods, Covid, Nipah and Ockhi cyclone,” said Balagopal.
He blamed the Centre for pushing the state into a financial crisis by effecting drastic cuts in funds and net borrowing ceiling. “This forced us to introduce fuel cess. The state’s proposal is to collect Rs 2. The Centre collects Rs 20. The fuel cess is for the people. The UDF government too had implemented a cess in 2015,” he said.