We are not in the mood to impose any extra tax burden on the public but we are equally concerned about depleting tax collection, we will explore new sources to generate revenue; CM Prem Singh Tamang

We are not in the mood to impose any extra tax burden on the public but we are equally concerned about depleting tax collection, we will explore new sources to generate revenue; CM Prem Singh Tamang. As an assembly reporter, we need to be required to write each point raised by the legislators despite their party affiliations and we also try to bring those points to a public forum in different formats such as news articles, snippets, video reports, etc. This recent budget session also saw many interesting things as two opposition legislators one of the longest-serving CM of India and former CM Pawan Chamling and BJP President DR Thapa gave their 100 percent participation and asked questions and raised various concerns. Among many issues and questions raised, both legislators showed major concern about depleting sources of expenditure and suggested doing something for revenue generation in reply CM Prem Singh Tamang said we are not at all in the mood to levy any taxes on the public yes we agree there is revenue expenditure is high but we are paying our liabilities not to blame the previous government that is our duty also but there were some liabilities we need to repay loans but we are also trying to generate revenue from different sources such as we have started taking environment cess and in excise department also we are trying to earn some revenue. The details of revenue collection, as tabled on the floor of the assembly are - The actual Revenue collection figure in Financial Year 2019-20 was Rs. 1663.80 crores as against Rs. 1555.76 crores collected during Financial Year 2018-19. Thus, there was a Revenue growth of 7 percent (%) during the Financial Year 2019-20 over the 2018-19 revenue figures. Similarly, despite the severe imp of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Financial Year 2020-21 the State Government managed to collect Rs. 1628.99 crores as Revenue which is again a 5 percent (%) growth over the r 2018-19 revenue collection figures. Furthermore, in the Financial Year 2021-22 the actual revenue collection figure was Rs. 1935.04 crores with a healthy revenue growth of 19 per cent (%) over the Financial year 2020-21 revenue figures. This Revenue collection figures for 2021-22. And to mobilize additional revenue generation the government has started levying Eco System Service Cess to various pharmaceuticals and Hydro Projects operating in Sikkim and has collected 154 crores to date under the Forest department, Similarly, the state government has started a prepaid energy meter to check revenue leakages, under Excise department we have started online system to check leakages and for labeling also online system and there are numerous small steps were taken by the government and in future also we will try and explore ways to generate revenue but we not in the mood to levy tax on common people so biggest takeaway is the government is not planning to impose any extra tax which is a great sigh of relief for common people. Also, the recently passed budget session is one of the most interesting sessions there was a cent percent participation from opposition legislators and equally responded to every issue and question by the leader of the house. Opposition leaders have also done lots of homework and made the session interesting by asking right and valid questions in the favor on the floor.l