



It’s sad that India’s 16th Finance Commission award has given up a tradition of tax-sharing impartiality
The Finance Commission is a key pillar of India’s federal fiscal architecture. A constitutional body appointed every five years, it is expected to arbitrate impartially between the central and state governments and among the latter themselves in allocating tax revenues collected by the Central government on behalf of all administrations. Though FCs are not widely known, their awards have far reaching implications for fiscal federalism and macroeconomic fiscal outcomes.
Successive finance commissions (FCs) have established a sound tradition of impartial awards.Slight shifts in one direction or another notwithstanding, most earlier FCs have tried to navigate a balanced course between interests of the central government and those of states and between considerations of equity and efficiency. The 16th Finance Commission (16th FC) report has changed this course. It reveals a distinct re-orientation in favour of the central government vis-à-vis the states and shows little concern for equity.
Also, unlike past FCs, it has expressed opinions without always presenting data in their support. Hence, it is not possible to judge whether some of these opinions are based on robust evidence. Renowned domain experts have therefore been quite critical of the 16th FC awards (Rangarajan & Srivastava in The Hindu, 2 March; Govinda Rao in Business Standard, 12 March).
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