Admitting that the State government was passing through a difficult time, Finance Secretary K. Shanmugam said the revenue deficit was not a big issue.
"When there is an economic upswing, there will be revenue surplus. When there is downswing, there will be revenue deficit. It's a cycle," he told the customary press conference after presenting the budget on Wednesday.
It was not unique to Tamil Nadu but a countrywide phenomenon. States like Maharashtra, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh also had revenue deficit, he said attributing it to lack of investment.
Normally the State’s own tax revenue (SOTR) projections are pegged at about 20 per cent .
“The State is passing through a difficult time with revenue flows dropping due to a slow down in businesses and investments.
The 2014-15 SOTR projections had to be revised down to Rs 85,772 crore,” he said.
The biggest drop was in commercial taxes which went down by about Rs 4,200 crore, including a Rs 1,000 crore drop from petroleum products’ contribution due to the drop in crude prices.
Liquor sale
The revenue from liquor sale is expected to increase to Rs 29,672 crore in 2015-16 against Rs 26,188 crore in revised estimates for 2014-15.
