Kerala Finance Bill 2025 Passed Without Any Significant Changes

The Assembly passed the Kerala Finance Bill 2025, which implements the State government’s financial proposals for the financial year 2025-26 without any significant changes.

The tax proposal in the Kerala Budget 2025-26 will be implemented from April 1, 2025. Tuesday was the last day of the ongoing Assembly session.

Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal said that an official amendment has been proposed for putting limits on the fee payable in district courts and the High Court for criminal cases. The fee is Rs.50 in the magistrate court to a maximum of Rs.250. However, such a limit has not been recommended for the District Court and the High Court, he said.

The official amendment has set the limit for the District Court to Rs.500 and Rs. 1000 for the High Court, he further said.

Mr. Balagopal reaffirmed that the tax plans were reasonable and timely. He called the UDF’s claims “baseless,” saying that the government was financially squeezing the public through its proposals.

According to him, the land tax hike was also fair. For example, the person who owns 20 cents of land in the Panchayat region will be required to pay an extra Rs.20. Ten-acre holders will be required to pay an extra Rs.1,000.

In their objections to the Bill, opposition UDF members criticised the government for imposing heavy taxes on the public, including a 50% increase in basic land tax rates. They also claimed that court fees had been raised five times.

They said problems could be created in the industry, as the government has proposed increasing the tax on regular contract carriages without push-back seats.

To implement the financial proposals from the budget speech, the Bill made changes to several laws. These include the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, the Kerala Land Tax Act, the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, the Kerala Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, the Kerala State Goods and Services Tax Act, and the Kerala Finance Act.

The General Amnesty Scheme 2025 has also been introduced in the Finance Bill to clear certain outstanding dues and the Flood Cess Amnesty 2025 to settle unpaid Kerala Flood Cess.