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A proposal for increasing the tax on liquor and a higher entry fee for casinos has been put forward by the Goa government, saying that it hoped this would to keep the youth away from casino gambling while also increasing the state's revenues.
"My government, in an effort to discourage the youth of the state from entering casinos, proposes to enhance the entry fee from Rs.200 to Rs.2,000 per person," said Chief Minister Digambar Kamat while tabling the additional budget for 2009-10.
"The young people are the future of our state and we do not wish them to squander their youth and their parent's hard-earned money in casinos and fall prey to vices of gambling," an impassioned Kamat said in his 45-minute speech that was peppered with quotes from Winston Churchill, Johann Goethe, Abraham Lincoln and Kautilya.
"We hope this will not only discourage the youth from entering casinos, but will also generate substantial revenue for the state. The additional estimated revenue that may be collected is Rs.36.5 crore per year," Kamat said, whose government has been repeatedly criticised for allowing offshore casino vessels.
Kamat also proposed an increase in the one-time licence processing fee for retail sale of liquor on offshore casino vessels from the current Rs.25,000 to Rs.10 lakh.
Similarly, the annual licence fee for retail sale of liquor on board casino vessels with a capacity of less than 50 passengers has been hiked from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh. For vessels with a capacity up to 200 passengers, it has been raised from Rs.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, and for vessels with capacity beyond that fee would be raised from Rs.10 lakh to Rs.20 lakh.
Additionally, the government proposed hiking the duty on liquor by Re.1 per bulk litre.
The additional budget, with a Rs.18.75-crore revenue deficit and a fiscal deficit of Rs.482.54 crore, is a follow-up to the interim budget that was presented by the Congress-led coalition government in March when the code of conduct for the elections was in force.
The government has also proposed an increase in the export fee on liquor from Re.0.60 per bulk litre to Re.0.75, while increasing the bottling fee from Rs.2.50 to Rs.3 per case.
