Opposition parties on Wednesday alleged that the NDA government had failed to keep its 2014 commitment that 42 per cent of gross tax revenues would devolve to states.
They also said that the states were not getting their share of the goods and services tax.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who spoke during zero hour in the Rajya Sabha, said the Centre had announced that 42 per cent of gross tax revenues would devolve to the states.
But only 30 per cent of gross tax revenues will devolve to the states for the 2019-20 financial year, he said.
“The government owes this House an explanation why a commitment… that 42 per cent of tax revenues would go to states has actually become only 30 per cent,” Ramesh said. In the previous few years, he added, it has been 35 per cent.
“It has never been 42 per cent and I think this is a breach of promise. It is a breach of a commitment made in budget speeches and by no less a person than the Prime Minister himself.”
Ramesh quoted the Fifteenth Finance Commission report to say that states with a higher per-capita income and better performance than the national average, like Karnataka and Kerala, were at a serious disadvantage because their share might fall.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh raised the issue of states not being paid their share of the GST. “States are not getting their share. The GST Act states that the states will be compensated as per the projected nominal growth. But their share has been reduced. Madhya Pradesh lost Rs 14,000 crore,” he said.
Members from parties like the Trinamul Congress, BJD, CPM and the Samajwadi Party associated themselves with the views.