Fiscal and Cooperative Federalism Under The Indian Constitution

Abstract

With the advent of Goods and Services Tax in July 2017, which was a much awaited step of the government. The sudden acceptance and approval in the parliament was a debatable issue back then. The advent of GST and the method of imposition was one of the issues that the public at large faced. Having said the, erasing double taxation was one of the key takeaways of GST. However, amidst the pros and cons of Goods and Services a major impact that was observed was on the financial autonomy of the States. This directly impacted the key fiscal relations between the State and Centre. The author has divided this article in three parts. Part I, gives an introduction of the concept of a Fiscal Federalism vis-à-vis the related provisions enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Part II, draws a picture about the taxation regime prior to the imposition of GST and Part III concludes with the impact of GST on the financial autonomy of the States.