Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema Thursday said that the government would not impose new taxes in the upcoming budget, but would ensure that revenue collection is enhanced on the taxes already imposed. Addressing the media, Cheema informed that his department has received various suggestions for the upcoming budget and added that the government will incorporate public opinions while preparing the budget. "The Punjab government will not impose any new tax on people.We will make do with the earlier ones alone. But I assure you that we will collect more revenue. Our collections will be more. Our collections are better in the first two months alone,” said Cheema. With the cash crunched government, staring at losing Rs 16,000 crore every year as GST compensation, Cheema said the state government wanted the compensation of Rs 16,000 crore should continue beyond 2022. "We have written a letter in this regard and we are also in touch with the Centre on this issue. This compensation should continue. We are not the only ones who are facing loss of money. There are several BJP states also which are going to face a situation like us,” said Cheema. He further said that he would raise this issue in the next GST Council meeting. Under the GST law, states were guaranteed to be compensated bi-monthly for any loss of revenue in the first five years of GST implementation from July 1, 2017. The five-year period ends in June 2022. Many states have already requested extension of the compensation mechanism under the GST beyond June 2022. The Centre has already announced in the FY23 budget that it will not extend the GST compensation beyond June 2022. He said the government was hopeful that the Centre would accede to the demands by states. The minister added that in the current fiscal, they would not face a deficit of Rs 16,000 crores as they will get compensation for the first quarter. On whether they would be suffering due to Centre-state relations, he said, “We will work in tandem with Centre. The tax collection will be better as you all will see. Whichever guarantees have been given by AAP would be rolled out in the next five years.” He said that the government had got a huge response from the people in the suggestions they had invited for incorporation in the budget. “We have got 20,000 responses on the portal. Out of these 4,055 are from women. People have written to us. We have received more than 500 memorandums also.” A number of women has suggested reforms in basic education and also shared views on healthcare issues. Farmers have sought an increase in their income, bringing new technology in the farming sector while youth suggested creation of more job opportunities, e-governance and more libraries in the state. A large number of people gave suggestions on infrastructure, improvement in the power sector, reducing debt burden and raising state resources. The maximum number of suggestions came from Ludhiana (10.61 per cent), followed by Patiala (10 per cent), Fazilka (8 per cent) and Bathinda (6 per cent), he said. Cheema also said that all the "guarantees" promised by the Aam Aadmi Party before the assembly election would be honoured. "People gave us the mandate for five years and all the guarantees will be honoured in five years," he added.
