Centre's alleged 'injustice' in devolution of taxes to southern states

The “South Tax Movement” is the new phrase that crept into Indian political parlance after some southern states, notably Karnataka and Kerala, staged protests in the national capital last week against the Centre’s tax devolution policies. They alleged that these policies shrank their share of the divisible pool of taxes distributed by the Union government to states, facilitating spending on development, welfare, and priority-sector schemes and projects.

Complaints from the south of the Vindhyas gained intensity as the debate over the lower devolutions added to the perception of a “North-South divide” and fuelled the sentiment that the South was meted