Atishi Marlena.
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: The AAP government Thursday accused the BJP-led Central government of "deceiving" Delhiites, saying the people of the city contributed Rs 15.59 lakh crore as income tax in the last 10 years but got just Rs 7,534 crore in budgetary allocations during the period, "which is less than one per cent of what they paid".
"Why is the BJP-ruled central government doing this injustice to Delhiites? Why don't people of Delhi get their rightful funds?" Finance Minister Atishi told a press conference here.
She accused the Central government of oppressing the people of Delhi. "Just like the British used to take the money of the people of India, India got nothing in return, only crumbs." "Today, in the same way, the BJP-ruled central government is taking the tax money of the people of Delhi. In the last 10 years, more than Rs 15 lakh crores in income tax has been taken, and in return, only Rs 7,500 crore has been given," he said.
Delhiites gave Rs 2.07 lakh crore to the central government in 2023-24 as income tax, she said.
"In return, the people of Delhi demanded that five per cent of their income tax, ₹10,000 crore, should be given to the Delhi government as a tax share for the infrastructure development of Delhi.
"So in return, the people of Delhi got only disappointment and did not get a single penny as a tax share. On this, BJP leaders say that the Delhi government is lying. Delhi does not get a tax share but it gets a lot more in the budget," she said.
Presenting the data of the central government's budget for the last 10 years, she said, "In 2023-24, Delhiites paid ₹2.07 lakh crore as income tax to the central government. In return, the central government allocated only ₹1,168 crores to Delhi by combining all the seven items of Demand 57. And not a single penny was received as a tax share in this. This is not even 0.4 per cent of the tax paid by the people of Delhi," she said.
She explained that there are seven subheads in the 'Demand 57', including share in taxes, compensation to the 1984 victims, grants towards contribution to union territory disaster response fund, normal central assistance, additional central assistance under as loans and advances, and capital funds for the creation physical and social infrastructure in Delhi.
Sharing the figures for the 2022-23 fiscal, she said Delhiites paid Rs 2,12,101 crores as income tax to the central government but in the budget for the subsequent financial year, Rs 1,168 crores was allocated to Delhiites.
"In the year 2021-22, Delhiites paid income tax Rs 1,77,824 crores to the Central Government. In return, Delhiites got only Rs 960 crore, which is 0.3 per cent of their income tax.
In the year 2020-21, Delhiites paid income tax of Rs 1,20,120 crore and in return, Delhiites got an allocation of ₹1,029 crore. In 2019-20, when the whole country was grappling with COVID-19 pandemic, Delhiites paid an income tax of Rs 1,49,613 crore in those difficult times. But Delhiites got only Rs 1,112 crore," she alleged.
Delhiites paid a total of over Rs 6.93 crore as income tax in these six years but got only Rs 4,433 crore, she said.
"In the last 10 years, since the BJP government has come to power, Delhiites have paid Rs 15,59,933 crores as income tax to the BJP-ruled central government and in return, Delhiites got only Rs 7,534 crore. Delhiites received only 0.48 per cent of the income tax that THEY paid to the BJP-ruled central government in the last 10 years," she claimed.
Citing the examples of states like Maharshtra and Karnataka, she said they get adequate allocation in budget when they pay high income tax.
"Maharashtra which pays Rs 5 lakh crores income tax gets an allocation of Rs 50,000 crore in the budget. Karnataka which pays Rs 2 lakh crore income tax gets an allocation of Rs 30,000 crores. So, when the people of Delhi pay Rs 2 lakh crores income tax then why do they get only ₹1,061 crore together? When Delhiites pay their share of tax honestly then why don't they get their rightful share of money?" she questioned.
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