Gandaki state government has set a target of collecting agricultural income tax of Rs.15 lakh in the financial year 2076/77. Although the government has set a target, it has not been able to collect taxes accordingly. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, only 27.26 percent i.e. 4 lakh 9 thousand rupees was collected. That amount is the highest in agricultural income tax.

The Gandaki government has announced that it will collect 15 lakhs of agricultural income tax in the financial year 2077/78. However, not a single rupee was collected that year. The government, despite setting a target, was unable to collect taxes and reduced the target to 2 lakhs in the financial year 2078/79. However, even that year, the government could not collect taxes. The government's target of raising 5 lakh revenue in the financial year 2079/80 was also not met.

In the financial year 2080/81, the government, which aimed to collect 5 lakh taxes, managed to collect only 5 percent, i.e. 24,000 rupees. In the financial year 2081/82, the government aimed to collect 342,000 taxes and could not even collect a single rupee.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has stated that the target has been set high because the tax falls under the sole authority of the provincial government. With the implementation of federalism, the powers of the government were divided into three levels. Schedule 6 of Article 57 of the Constitution established the basis for division of jurisdiction between the union, state and local levels. Schedule 7 addressed the agricultural tax as a sole right of the province. 'Agricultural Income Tax' is the only tax under the sole jurisdiction of the State Government.

The Gandaki government has more ambitions in agricultural income tax. Under which the target of agricultural income tax taken by the government could not be fulfilled even after 8 years. Immediately after the establishment of the government, in the fiscal year 2075/76, the government announced its first policy and program and budget. That year, the government's attention was not focused on agricultural income tax.

Kalpanadevi Sapkota, an officer of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Revenue Branch, said that the government's target on agriculture tax is ambitious. Stating that there is no commercialization in agriculture, Sapkota says, "Big farmers do not agree to pay taxes." There is a problem of hiding the business because it has to pay tax. How will the tax be raised? She said that even if the tax could not be raised, the government should not give up on the target.

The State Economic Act has provided that no income tax will be levied if the annual turnover is up to 10 lakh rupees. Farmers who earn more than 10 lakhs have to go to the agricultural knowledge center of the district to pay tax within 3 months.

The agricultural sector has contributed 27.31 percent to the revenue of the Gandaki state government. With the aim of making Gandaki self-sufficient in agriculture, the Chief Minister has launched an environment-friendly model agricultural village, organic fertilizer distribution, agricultural mechanization, small and large irrigation schemes, ministerial programs with farmers, pocket sector promotion cooperation, establishment of cold stores and moisture centers, precision farming programs, value chain development of milk, meat and pashmina, improvement of animal and bird breeds, reservoir utilization plan for promotion of fisheries, organization grants to cooperatives and targeting underprivileged women. Self-employment training has been conducted.

An economic survey has shown a 55.45 percent increase in vegetable production in Gandaki province. Along with this, climate change, lack of storage, lack of coordination and side effects of chemical fertilizers have been taken as the main problems.

According to Basudev Regmi, secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives, the Gandaki government has tried to modernize, commercialize and lead the agricultural sector towards self-sufficiency. He said that although the constitution provides for the collection of agricultural income tax, it is not easy to implement it in the province. Secretary Regmi says, "Even if the Gandaki province implements the tax on agriculture, it is not practical."

tax will be collected from big farms. Audit reports of farms are always negative. Farms in the red don't pay taxes. We don't have the data of farmers (individuals) selling potatoes, rice, fruits. He says that although revenue collection is generally done in agriculture, it has not been able to be strict in the form of taxes.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, general revenue such as the sale of seeds and beans, the fee charged when buffaloes come to the vetnery, and the general fee charged for soil testing are raised. Secretary Regmi says, ``Agriculture should not be taxed. Due to the arrangement made by the constitution itself, the state is in trouble. The income is not practical. In the context of Nepal, agricultural income tax has been raised to some extent in Gandaki province, but the government of other provinces has not raised it.

According to the data of Provincial Directorate of Agricultural Development, the government has been taking the policy of collecting agricultural tax since the past years. According to Sapkota, an official of the Ministry of Finance, taxes could not be collected even though the subsidies given by the government were not focused on production. "Even though the government has a single authority, the scope is not large," she says, "no one is interested in increasing the scope."