Bharadwaj, Muralikrishna Kapur, Tarrung Trehan, Ragini 2024 Srivastava, D K <br/><br/>
Finance Commissions' Distance Criterion: Role in Delivering Equalisation 

 -  Economic and Political Weekly  2024 
 - 51-59 
<br/><br/> The income distance criterion plays a key role in determining states' shares in the divisible pool of taxes as recommended by several finance commissions, especially from the Ninth Finance Commission. It has been accorded the highest weight among all devolution criteria. It aims at fiscal capacity equalisation in India's fiscal transfer system. Over time, the weight attached to this criterion has been reduced, resulting in reduced fiscal capacity equalisation. The underlying axiomatic framework that informs India's tax devolution system  is discussed. Alternative versions of the distance criterion are considered to increase the equalisation through this criterion. 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/> Fiscal Capacity Equalisation<br/> Fiscal Transfer System<br/>Finance Commissions