PANAJI
As the 16th Finance Commission is set to visit Goa next month, the State is likely to request for higher share in the central taxes taking into consideration its high fiscal efficiency to address infrastructure gaps and prioritise local development.
The Finance Commission chaired by Arvin Panagariya and members are expected to visit the coastal State in the second week of January, 2025, wherein Goa may request the Commission to increase the share of States in Central taxes from the existing 41 per cent to 50 per cent overall.
Highly placed sources at the Secretariat confirmed said Goa will put up a case to allot a minimum of 1 per cent of all taxes to the State, irrespective of its size and population. At present, as per 15th finance commission (2021-26), the State share from central taxes is hardly 0.386 per cent.
As per 14th Finance Commission (2015-21), the State share was 0.378 per cent. “As per this, State gets around Rs 260 crore monthly from the Centre, which is very less compared to our contribution to the Central taxes. If State manages to get even 0.5 per cent, it would help in big way,” sources said.
As per the 15th finance commission and the Constitutional provisions, each State is entitled to a share of the collections of central excise, income tax, customs duty and other duties and taxes collected by the Centre.
Various criteria like that of population, demography, income, etc are used by the Commission to determine each State’s share in central taxes, and the weight assigned to each criterion.
“Considering the State population and size, it would be difficult to get one per cent share but the State will make a case for it,” sources said.
As per State Budget, for 2024-25, State’s share in central taxes is estimated at Rs 4,708 crore, an increase of 11 per cent over the revised estimates of 2023-24.
This year, in June, State received Rs 539 crore towards tax devolution while another Rs 688 crore was received in October, which included one advance instalment. In December 2023, State had got Rs 260 crore as its share.
In 2008 too, Goa has put up a case before 13th Finance Commission, to give more weightage, not to equity but to efficiency in devolving its share in central taxes and increasing it to one per cent. However, at that time, the State share was hardly 0.2 per cent from central taxes.
