Over one lakh 15 thousand crore rupees have been released to the States and Union Territories as GST compensation in the present fiscal year. This was stated by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today. Earlier, while replying to supplementaries in the Rajya Sabha on the collection of cess and its sharing with States, the Finance Minister said, cess is collected by the Centre for a particular purpose. She said, it cannot be kept by the Centre and it ultimately goes to the states. The Minister informed that the percentage of cess and surcharges in gross tax revenue was over 28 percent in the financial year 2021-22.
