Don't penalise citizens

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has blamed the Commonwealth Games for the higher taxes proposed in the recent state budget. This can be a test case for other state governments as well. What happens when cities plan high-impact events that will upgrade their infrastructure, but discover at the last moment that they haven't been quite successful? Are they justified in calling on citizens to cough up more money? Delhi's example suggests that they aren't.

We need better urban infrastructure, for sure. That's the right of citizens and providing it is the job of the government. The logic behind taxation is that the state will collect taxes from citizens and build and run public utilities. The city's bid for the Commonwealth Games was seen as an opportunity to expand urban facilities. Financial outlays were made accordingly and funds provided by various agencies, including the Union government. These funds, let's not forget, were provided by taxpayers.

Now, the state government has overshot its budget for the games. It needs to raise more money, and fast. How did this mess-up happen? This isn't a case of bad budgeting. There is a funds shortage because of the inefficiency of the government. Deadlines were set for the completion of works, which included building new stadiums, roads, hotels etc while refurbishing and revamping existing ones. But state agencies failed to meet them. As projects lagged, inflationary pressures kicked in and costs soared. Surely, citizens aren't to be blamed for the delays. Nor must they be penalised with more taxes. What if cities expected to host the upcoming cricket World Cup insist that citizens pay more taxes to facilitate the show? Dikshit and her finance minister have got their economics mixed up. The Delhi government has set a bad precedent.