15th Finance Commission: This Advisory Council Meeting will be different - Here is how

The Economic Advisory Council of the 15th Finance Commission is all set to meet on 23-24 April, 2020.  It will be an online meeting presided by Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, N. K. Singh and attended by all the Members and Senior Officials of the Finance Commission.  The meeting will be attended by the 5  Members of the  Council including  Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Dr. Sajjid Z Chinoy, Dr. Prachi Mishra, Neelkanth Mishra and Dr. Omkar Goswami on 23rd April, 2020. The meeting with the remaining Members of the Council will be held on the next day i.e. 24th April, 2020.

The likely agenda for the Advisory Council Meeting is:-

-Implications of the pandemic for GDP growth in 2020-21 and 2021-22.  Uncertainty about macro variables over time.

-Possible assumptions for tax buoyancy and revenue in the current year and next year.

-What should be the public expenditure fillip to shore up the economy.

The Finance Commission is a Constitutionally mandated body that is at the centre of fiscal federalism. Set up under Article 280 of the Constitution, its core responsibility is to evaluate the state of finances of the Union and State Governments, recommend the sharing of taxes between them, lay down the principles determining the distribution of these taxes among States. Its working is characterised by extensive and intensive consultations with all levels of governments, thus strengthening the principle of cooperative federalism. Its recommendations are also geared towards improving the quality of public spending and promoting fiscal stability. The first Finance Commission was set up in 1951 and there have been fifteen so far. Each of them has faced its own unique set of challenges.

The Fifteenth Finance Commission was constituted on 27 November 2017 against the backdrop of the abolition of Planning Commission (as also of the distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure) and the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST), which has fundamentally redefined federal fiscal relations.