Centre's share of cess and surcharges nearly double in three years

Experts say finance commission needs to provide clarity on whether cess should be shared with states

On December 20, the finance ministry revealed that the share of central cess and surcharges in yearly gross tax revenue had risen 10 percentage points between 2019-20 and 2021-22. This was a rather steep jump, given that most of the cess and surcharge amount is not shared with the states.

 

According to a reply by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha to Member of Parliament John Brittas, in 2019-20, the year before the share of cesses and surcharges was 18.2 per cent of gross tax revenue of 20.10 crore. In 2020-21, the year of peak pandemic, it was 25.1 per