Karnataka lost Rs 1.87 lakh crore during 15th Finance Commission: CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said Karnataka has lost Rs 1.87 lakh crore under the 15th Finance Commission and that Congress’ protest in New Delhi this week is to fight this “big injustice” to the state.

All Congress lawmakers from Karnataka, led by Siddaramaiah, will protest at Jantar Mantar on February 7.

“I invite BJP MPs, MLAs and leaders to join the protest to raise our voice for the state’s rights,” Siddaramaiah told a news conference here. The CM also specified that he is not against giving money to states that are financially weak.

Hammering out statistics, Siddaramaiah said Karnataka’s share in central taxes came down to 3.64% under the 15th Finance Commission from 4.71% under the 14th Finance Commission. “This decrease resulted in a loss of Rs 62,098 crore,” he said.

Attacking Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Siddaramaiah said Karnataka was not given Rs 11,495 crore of special grants recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. “Altogether, Karnataka missed out on a total of Rs 73,593 crore,” he said.

The stoppage of the GST compensation has hurt Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said. “Before GST, our state’s tax collection growth was at 15%...compensation was discontinued in June 2022. This has significantly impacted our ability to achieve a 15% tax collection growth rate again,” he said.

With cess and surcharges not devolved to the states, Karnataka is losing another Rs 45,322 crore, Siddaramaiah said.

“Karnataka is the second-highest tax collector after Maharashtra. The state contributes Rs 4.30 lakh crore in tax revenue. However, the state receives only around Rs 12-13 out of every Rs 100 in taxes,” Siddaramaiah explained.

Siddaramaiah refuted claims by BJP leaders that Karnataka received more funds under the NDA government.

“In 2017-18, the union budget size was Rs 21.46 lakh crore. We got Rs 47,980 crore under devolution and grant-in-aid. In 2018-19, the union budget size was Rs 24.42 lakh crore and we got Rs 51,157 crore. In 2019-20, the union budget size was Rs 27.86 lakh crore and we got Rs 54,814 crore. In 2023-24, the union budget size is Rs 45.03 lakh crore. But the state is receiving Rs 50,257 crore. How is it that the state got more funds?” Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah also said that Karnataka did not get Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Project as announced in the previous union budget.