The declining share in devolution of tax revenue by the Central government has put the State government’s finances in a precarious situation often impeding its development agenda, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
Virtually opening the State conference of the Kerala Non-Gazetted Officers’ Union (Kerala NGO Union) on Saturday, he said the Centre had curtailed the State’s powers to impose new taxes and thus limited its ability to generate its own revenue.
Kerala’s share of Central taxes and duties, as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission, had come down to 1.92%. It was 3.8% during the 10th Finance Commission (1995-2000) and 2.5% during the 14th Finance Commission. Mr. Vijayan said this was causing a lot of trouble in fiscal management.
