Subashini K J J
Chennai, 4 October
More than Rs12.99 lakh crore collected as cess remains unspent for six years, according to data
submitted by Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary in the budget session of Parliament.
Out of Rs19.6 lakh crore collected as cess from 2017 to 2022, only
Rs6.6 lakh was used. The data was submitted in response to a question by Congress Member of Parliament, V.K. Sreekandan.
The money was spent for schemes sponsored by the centre through cess related Reserve Funds.
The funds transferred to schemes such as Central Road and Infrastructure Fund, Prarambhik
Shiksha Kosh, and Rashtriya Swachata Kosh are a small percent of cess collected.
Two other schemes,Madhyamik and Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh(MUSK) andPradhan Mantri Swasthya
Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN) which were approved in 2017 and 2021 respectively are yet to be implemented.
Cess is a earmarked tax that the Central government collects for a specific purpose and ought to be
spent only for that.
“Keeping the funds idle in public account without productive application is not desirable’ said Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) in its FY 2021-22 report on union accounts.
In the revised estimate(RE) of the same year, Rs 46,499 crore was budgeted to be transferred
out of the account of Health and Education Cess, but could not be transferred or utilised, “It’s better not to collect cess if it is not being used, ” said J. Jeyaranjan, Vice-Chairperson, State Development Policy Council(SDPC) of Tamil Nadu, on the CAG report.
Cess constitutes 26.43% of gross tax revenue. The amount of cess collected has increased
over the years and many states are unhappy that cess eats into their revenue.
The Education cess was earmarked for primary education for all states but on the condition that the
states should follow the National Education Policy 2020.
Several states such as Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are under immense pressure to comply with the conditions of the Central government and has been forced to reconsider its stand on NEP.