Centre paid nothing to Delhi government: Atishi on tax devolution

New Delhi: Delhi Minister Atishi claimed that while people in the national capital had paid Rs 2.25 lakh crore as takes to the central government in the last year, the Delhi government has not received any money from the central government as tax devolution.

“People of Delhi gave Rs 2.25 lakh crore as taxes to the central government last year. Just see, how much money was given to the Delhi government by the central government from that money. It was zero. Nothing was given to the Delhi government,” Atishi said while speaking to ANI on Friday.

Atishi underlined that people in Delhi not only pay taxes to the Delhi government but also pay taxes to the central government.

“If we see the data of taxes paid by the people of Delhi to the Delhi government. it was Rs 35,000 crore. The taxes that were given to Delhi government were spent on the development of Delhi and its people. But people of Delhi not only pay taxes to the state but to the central government as well. Delhi is one of the highest taxpayers for the central government,” the Delhi Minister said.

Atishi said that people in Delhi want the money they pay as taxes to be spent for their development.

“As you all know, on July 23, the central government will present the budget. Last year, the central government had made allocations worth Rs 45 lakh crore in the budget. It is the government’s responsibility to spend money on the development of people. People of Delhi also contribute to taxes and they also hope that the tax that they pay will be spent on the development of Delhi,” she said.

Slamming the central government for not making enough allocations for Delhi, Atishi said, “I want to ask the central government why they behave differently with the people of Delhi.

Apart from Delhi, if you see other contributors, it’s Mumbai. The Maharashtra government gets Rs 54,000 crore in the budget.”

The Delhi Minister asked the central government to make sure that they provide enough allocations for the development of the national capital in this year’s budget.

“But this time, in the central budget, it is the demand of the people of Delhi to get their rights. We are not saying that we should get all the money that we contribute. We also understand that we contribute different areas, but why do we not get a single penny from it?” Atishi said.

Explaining her point using an example from the United States, Atishi asked, “Do you think the American government only takes money from New York and does not give a single money to them?”

The Aam Aadmi Party leader compared the alleged tax devolution of Delhi with that of the colonial government in the past.

“This injustice used to happen when the British used to rule India. They used to take all the money and give nothing in return. The same treatment is being done with Delhi,” Atishi said.

“Delhi should get Rs 10,000 crore. This is just 0.25 percent of the whole budget of the Central government,” she added.