Himachal Pradesh announces Rs 10 cow cess per liquor bottle in new budget

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced a new cow cess of Rs 10 per liquor bottle while presenting the Himachal Pradesh Budget 2023-24 on Friday. The move will generate Rs 100 crore in revenue per annum, he said.

Sukhu made the cess announcement while presenting his maiden budget in the HP Assembly today. He made several other announcements on tourism and green policy in the state.

The state of Uttar Pradesh had imposed a 0.5 percent "gua kalyan" cess on excise items to fund the construction and maintenance of cow shelters.

According to a Times of India report, Rajasthan had implemented a similar policy and earned Rs 2,176 crore from the cow cess over a span of three years from 2019-2022. However, the government only spent Rs 5.20 crore of that revenue, claiming the rest of the money remained unused as it received no proposals.