Measures to make T.N. revenue-neutral to be keenly watched 

CHENNAI

Apart from the anticipation of an announcement on the monthly honorarium of ₹1,000 for women family heads, measures to achieve the goal of making the State revenue-neutral in three years would be keenly watched in the Tamil Nadu Budget for 2023-24 to be presented by Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Monday.

Campaigning for the Erode (East) Assembly byelection, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had said an announcement in respect of the ₹1,000 monthly dole would be made in the Budget. This scheme was one of the key election promises of the ruling DMK.

Mr. Thiaga Rajan had said at an event that the State’s finances had improved through reforms and the aim was to become revenue surplus in two to three years. He had said Tamil Nadu’s revenue deficit (the difference between the government’s revenue receipts and revenue expenditure) was brought down by ₹16,000 crore in 2021-22. As a result, the fiscal deficit (the difference between the total revenue and expenditure excluding borrowings) was at 3.38% of the Gross State Domestic Product in 2021-22, as per the final accounts, which was lower than the 3.85% limit set by the Union government.

The Finance Minister had stated that Tamil Nadu would repeat the good performance in 2022-23 and had taken measures to safeguard against any recession.

As per the provisional figures of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG), Tamil Nadu’s total revenue receipts in fiscal 2022-23 (till January 2023) was ₹1,82,620.78 crore, 78.92% of the budgeted estimate of ₹2,31,407 crore for 2022-23.

The total revenue receipts include the State’s Own Tax Revenue, the State’s Own Non-Tax Revenue, Tamil Nadu’s share in the Central Taxes and Grants-in-Aid from the Centre.