Claiming that the Delhi government got nothing in return despite its income tax contribution of Rs two lakh crore, Delhi finance minister Atishi demanded Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre for infrastructure development. During a press conference on Friday, Atishi cited that Delhi also provided Rs 25,000 crore as central goods and services tax (GST) to the pool of taxes.
Atishi advocated for the release of more money by asserting that the people of Delhi are the highest-income taxpayers. She said, “Delhi should get Rs 10,000 crore from the Rs 2.07 lakh crore that people of the city pay as income tax. This amount (Rs 10,000 crore) is just 0.25 per cent of the central government’s budget and only five per cent of the income tax of Delhiites.”
Highlighting the case of Mumbai, the minister said that the Centre gets Rs 5 lakh crore as taxes from Mumbai and in return, gives Rs 54,000 crore to the Maharashtra government. Bengaluru also contributes Rs 2 lakh crore as taxes and gets Rs 33,000 crore in return.
Delhi, on the other hand, had only been receiving Rs 325 crore from the Centre since 2001 from the central pool of taxes. Even this payment was stopped last year and the city has not received even a single rupee since then, she alleged.
Last year, Delhiites paid Rs 35,000 crore in the form of taxes to the state government which was spent on providing facilities such as 24-hour free electricity, free treatment at hospitals and building roads and flyovers, the minister said.
Meanwhile, Harish Khurana, Delhi BJP secretary, accused Atishi of lying on the issue. He even claimed that the centre has given Rs 4,258 crore in 2015 to Delhi government which increased to become Rs 11,945 crore in 2022.
