Hyderabad: The state government will start collecting user charges even for services provided by private establishments. The charges were earlier restricted to government services. With this decision, everything from treatment at private hospitals to a cup of tea at the local hotel would cost more.
Sources said AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had approved a proposal put up by finance principal secretary P.V. Ramesh to levy user charges on private establishments. The government is now drawing up proposals for each department to collect user charges.
The finance department estimates that levying a 1-per cent user charge would fetch the government about Rs 2,000 crore a year. The Cabinet will fix the percentage.
The finance department in its order GO Ms 123, issued on September 29 to departments to prepare the budgetary estimates for 2016-17, had hinted at what was coming.
The departments were asked to “develop a strategy to augment the resources available in the Budget from all possible sources like better collection of tax and non-tax revenues, public contributions, private investments and user charges.”
Finance officials asked the commercial taxes department to prepare a report for the Cabinet for its approval. The Cabinet, after approving the user charge percentage, will decide whether to implement it from the ongoing year or the next financial year that begins on April 1 next.
Asked how the government proposed to collect user charges from, say, hotels, a senior official of the finance department that the user charges would be levied on the total turnover and the hotels in turn would collect it from the public.
The government is already levying user charges on more than 20 services that it provides like issuing certificates, paying of power and telephone bills and booking RTC tickets among others. User charges will be collected on bills for water supply as well as every service provided by the e-Seva centres.
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