Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar yesterday announced to scale down the state taxes on
import of coal.The existing green cess and rural welfare cess on the import of coal through Mormugao Port Trust has stopped the activity, Parrikar told the state legislative assembly.
“I have decided to reduce the taxes so that the import will start again,” said Parrikar adding that the green cess of Rs 50 instead of the existing Rs 250, would be imposed, while the rural welfare cess would be scaled down from two per cent to 0.5 per cent.
The Chief Minister said the state government, which was gathering Rs 550 per tonne of coal will now get something around Rs 110-120 per tonne and the annual collection will be Rs 170 crore.
He said that if state government continues with the current rate of taxing, the coal import would be diverted through nearby Karwar port.
The Chief Minister conceded that the state is not comfortable with financial inflow but that would improve from September onwards because there will be e-auctioning of the iron ore bringing in revenue and also money will flow from the central packages.
“We are expecting Rs 3,000 crore from the Centre for various projects. We will earn Rs 4,000 crore from e-auctioning,” he said and added that the financial situation of the state looks grim because 40 per cent revenue comes in first six months and 60 per cent in rest six months.
