Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has decided to demand that the 15th Finance Commission recommend an increase in the state’s tax share to the Centre.
It will also ask the Commission to allocate the tax share by taking into consideration the population as per the 1971 Census, amid disquiet that using the 2011 Census as a basis would result in the more populous northern getting a greater share funds.
The Commission is visiting the state on February 18 and will hold meetings that day and the day after at Jubilee Hall with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and senior officials.
The Commission will visit the Kaleshwaram project and witness a Mission Bhagiratha project on February 20.
The 14th Finance Commission has recommended to the Centre to devolve 42 per cent share in taxes to the state government as per the 1971 Census.
In view of recent news reports that the 15th Commission was likely to recommend to the Centre for devolution of taxes to state governments as per the 2011 Census, state government authorities were worried that TS share will reduce.
The Telangana state government is of the view that if the 2011 Census is taken as a basis for devolution, southern states would be at a loss compared to northern states.
The officials argue that southern states have been observing fiscal discipline and family planning since 1971, unlike northern states.
The authorities say that though TS had the advantage of getting good tax share, it stood second in the country in Ease of Doing Business and also got recognition as a progressing state, but if the 2011 Census be the basis, it was likely to get less tax share from the Centre. In this backdrop, the authorities are preparing the memorandum with a demand to allocate tax share as per 1971 Census.
