Kolkata, June 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) A meeting of the legislators of all political parties in West Bengal has been convened on the state Assembly premises by the Speaker of the House, Rathindra Bose, later in the day to discuss the budget session starting this week.
The budget session of the House will start on June 18. The full budget for the ongoing financial year of 2026-27 will be presented on June 22 by the new finance minister, Swapan Dasgupta, a journalist-turned-politician.
To recall, on February 5 this year, the previous West Bengal Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge), Chandrima Bhattacharya, presented the interim (vote-on-account) budget on the floor of the Assembly.
The full budget could not be presented then as the West Bengal Assembly elections were due in April. The results were declared on May 4 after the voting was held in two phases.
However, as per tradition, the House will be adjourned on the first day of the session after the obituary motion.
Last week, after being allotted the portfolio of the state finance department, Dasgupta said his target was to increase the state’s own tax revenue without imposing an additional burden on people through an upward revision of the existing tax structure.
“There is no logic that the state’s own tax revenue can be increased just by increasing the tax rates. At times, even a reduction in the tax rate can increase tax revenue. So, my prime target is to increase the state’s own tax revenue collection but without an upward revision in the existing tax rates,” Dasgupta told media persons on June 10 after taking charge as the new Finance Minister of West Bengal.
During the previous Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, the main complaint of economists was the limited avenues for the state’s own tax generation, which were mainly dependent on two heads: State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) and state excise.
The new Finance Minister seems to be directly addressing concerns of economists about the state's fiscal health in the backdrop of a cash-strapped state exchequer, rising accumulated debt, and huge non-plan expenditure.
Source: IANS
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