Unhealthy trend

The share of cess and surcharge in tax revenue has risen sharply

In the wake of the Union Budget 2017-18, the government is likely to face a peculiar problem in the coming financial year. Thanks to the central government resorting to the imposition of new cesses and surcharges in almost every Budget, data suggest that close to one-fourth of all central government tax revenue now comes from this category. This unhealthy trend has been strengthening over the past few years and has, in particular, led to a sharp increase in the share of cesses and surcharges in the Union government’s total revenues in the past two years. However, this growing dependence is