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Bengaluru, July 01: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that if more taxes are collected, more development can be achieved in the state. 

He was speaking after inaugurating the G.S.T Day programme organized by the Commercial Taxes Department at Vidhana Soudha’s Banquet Hall, He also presented the Chief Minister’s Service Awards for the year 2024-25.

"We can see in many inscriptions that there was a tax system from the time of the kings, even before the people’s government. Inscriptions state that the Kadambas introduced sales tax in Karnataka. Taxation is necessary to run the state. Every government collects taxes and runs the country or the state. The Constitution has empowered the Central and State Governments to levy taxes,  the Chief Minister said. 

Taxes should be appropriately shared with the States

Explaining that G.S.T is an indirect tax, the CM said that before G.S.T was introduced, the Government of Karnataka collected taxes through VAT. "There has been an outcry that states are not getting their share of taxes properly from the Centre. Currently, the 16th Finance Commission is being constituted. We are advocating that taxes should be shared  appropriately to the states that pay the highest taxes to the Centre. We have tried to bring this to the attention of the Central Government, Parliamentarians, and the Prime Minister. Under the 15th Finance Commission, the tax share for the state government has been reduced by 1.7%. The development of the state is possible if more taxes are collected," he said.

Economic and social empowerment necessary to achieve equality

The CM said that 60,000 crore rupees are required for guarantee schemes. "If the inequality of society is to be eliminated, everyone must be economically  and socially em powered.  Only then can equality be achieved. A special programme is being introduced to empower the economically weak. If the poor people of all religions and castes are to be empowered, there must be resources," he said.

CM appreciates the functioning of the Commercial Tax Department

Appreciating the way the Commercial Tax Department is functioning, the CM said that the department tries to prevent tax leakage. The department collected Rs. 1,22,821 lakh crore in taxes in the year 2022-23 and Rs. 1,45,266 crore in the year 2023-24. He appreciated that  the Commercial Tax Department for doing a good job.

Let the programme motivate officers to collect more taxes

The Chief Minister said that awards were distributed to 65 officers of the Commercial Tax Department today,  he encouraged the remaining 6,000 officials to work towards earning awards. He expressed hope that this programme would inspire others.

Chief Minister’s Political Secretaries Dr. K. Govindaraju and Nazir Ahmed, Finance Department and Chief Minister’s Deputy Chief Secretary L.K. Ateeq, Commercial Taxes Department Commissioner C. Shikha, Finance Department Secretary P.C. Zafar, and others were present.