Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh state budget for 2015-16 to be presented by Finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Thursday is likely to levy additional tax burden although marginally on the people.

The budget is likely to come as a disappointment for even the MLAs as the state government has reportedly decided to scrap the Assembly Constituency Development Fund (ACDF). This move will save Rs 175 crore for AP government but will leave the MLAs high and dry without any constituency development fund. Under ACDF, each MLA used to get Rs 1 crore and there are 175 Assembly segments in AP.

Though Mr Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said that it is going to be a zero-based tax free budget reflecting the ground realities of the financial position of the state, sources said there could one or two per cent tax hikes in different sectors.

The AP government has set a target of taking the growth rate of the State (GSDP) into double digits and improving the Human Development Index. To ensure that this is achieved, the government will allocate more to health, education and welfare that are crucial for HDI.

He ruled out levy of any capital city cess to raise money for construction of world class capital. However, he said projects such as construction of world class capital city will be given allocations in the budget.

As the Centre has failed to bridge the Rs 16,000 crore revenue deficit faced by Andhra Pradesh government, it is going to be a deficit budget for the second year in a row despite 10% hike in grants from 14th Finance Commission. The total Budget outlay is likely to be around Rs 1.15 lakh crore. Andhra Pradesh government’s priority areas that may get higher allocations in the budget: