K’taka Budget: No burden of additional taxes on common people, says CM Yediyurappa

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa presenting the state budget 2021-22 on Monday, said he has not put the burden of additional taxes on the common people.

”The year 2020-21 due to COVID-19 pandemic has caused untold miseries to the general public. I am not willing to put the burden of additional taxes on the common people,” Yediyurappa said.

Presenting the Budget 2021-22 in the legislative Assembly, he said, the state government levies Karnataka Sales Tax (KST) on petrol and diesel and it is already lesser compared to the other southern states.

”Despite this in the 2021-22 budget, no taxes including Karnataka State Tax on petrol and diesel has been increased and the budget has been formulated in such a way so as not to increase the financial burden on the common man,” he added.

Yediyurappa who also holds the Finance Portfolio presented the state budget, his eighth in the legislative assembly Monday.

The Chief Minister said, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has seen a fall due to lockdown for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2020-21, and as per the initial estimation based on fixed prices the GSDP has contracted by 2.6 percent in comparison with that of 2019-20.

He further stated that in spite of COVID and occurrence of floods in North Karnataka during 2020-21, growth of 6.4 percent is observed in the agriculture sector and said, however, the industrial and service sector witnessed a decline.

”During 2020-21 contraction in the industrial sector is 5.1 percent and in the service sector is 3.1 percent,” he added.