Karnataka set to lose Rs 60k crore from Centre over 5 years: Siddaramaiah

Karnataka will lose about Rs 60,000 crore over the next five years under the tax devolution formula of the 15th Finance Commission, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said Thursday, urging the ruling BJP to fight the Centre against this.

Speaking on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah hit out at the BJP for the “injustice” being meted out of Karnataka.

“After Maharashtra and Delhi, Karnataka is third when it comes to collection of direct taxes. Despite this, our state is not getting GST compensation, devolution of taxes, grants and flood relief,” Siddaramaiah said.

“For 2019-20, the Union Budget had estimated devolution of taxes to Karnataka at Rs 39,806 crore. This was revised to Rs 30,000 crore, leading to a shortfall of over Rs 9,000 crore. For 2020-21, under the 15th Finance Commission, it is projected that devolution to Karnataka will be less by Rs 11,215 crore. That’ll be nearly Rs 60,000 crore for five years,” Siddaramaiah said. “How can you take up development works,” he asked the CM.

With this, Siddaramaiah said Karnataka will get just about 40 paise for every rupee, whereas Uttar Pradesh will get 138 paise, Gujarat 235 paise and Bihar 200 paise.

“This is because we don’t fight it politically,” he said. “Karnataka has elected 25 BJP MPs. Not a single day have they gone to the prime minister or the finance minister and asked for funds.” he said.

According to the former chief minister, the unprecedented August 2019 floods caused damages to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore. “The CM made a statement that losses were up to Rs 50,000 crore. But in its memorandum to the Centre, the government showed damages of Rs 35,165 crore. The Centre has given just Rs 1,869 crore,” Siddaramaiah said.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is slated to reply to the motion of thanks on March 2.