The West Bengal government has requested the Centre to increase its share in the taxes collected from the states from 30.5 per cent to 50 per cent.
In a meeting with the chairman of the Thirteenth Finance Commission, Vijay Kelkar, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee demanded hat the scope of Centrally- sponsored schemes be redefined and states be given larger scope to implement such schemes. Kelkar is in Kolkata to hold meetings with representatives of the state government.

Under the Indian constitution, most of the developmental works have to be carried out by the state. But we have limited resources. We have demanded that the entire financial relations between the Centre and the states should be restructured. We also demanded that states should be given the right to impose service tax, said state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta.

Kelkar urged the state government to go in for better fiscal management and mobilise resources. He pointed out that the growth rate of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of West Bengal was 10.5 per cent, while the national average was 11.29 per cent.