Finance Commission: Karnataka will convey strong views to get fair deal this time, says Siddaramaiah

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Karnataka will register its strong views with the Centre about the injustice caused by the previous finance commissions while seeking a fair deal ahead of the constitution of the 16th Finance Commission, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said. The Congress leader, after taking over as chief minister in May this year, has often complained that the finance commissions have handed a raw deal to his state in devolution of funds. “Before the 16th Finance Commission is constituted, we will urge the Centre to rectify the injustice meted to Karnataka in the 15th Finance Commission.

We will also send our strong views,” the chief minister told ET in an exclusive chat. The Centre is expected to announce the 16th Finance Commission by November to decide on the devolution of funds to states from the divisible pool of central taxes for the five-year period beginning 2026-27. “Between the 14th and 15th Finance Commission, there has been a decrease in our share in the divisible pool of central taxes by 1.07%.

We are paying about Rs 4.4 lakh crore in taxes every year but are getting about Rs 50,000 crore in return. That is the (scale of) injustice meted to Karnataka,” Siddaramaiah said, reeling off numbers with ease, having presented 14 budgets so far. Karnataka was the second highest tax paying state in the country, the CM had said in his Independence Day address in Bengaluru.

“Karnataka will be the richest state if we get what actually we deserve naturally.” The CM, who met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi early this month, said they did not discuss much about finance. “It was more of a courtesy call,” he said. In his July 7 budget speech, the CM had said: “Even though Karnataka is one of the main contributors to