Article 280 and the commission that recommends how central taxes are shared between the Union and the States

Background

State finances were in the news this week as the States offered thousands of crores of securities in a Reserve Bank auction; the share of central taxes those States receive is recommended by a constitutional commission.
Under clause (1) of Article 280 of the Constitution, the Finance Commission is to be constituted every fifth year or earlier.
A Commission normally takes about two years to make its recommendations, and the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission covered a six-year period up to 31st March 2026.
Its terms of reference cover the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes divisible between them under Chapter I, Part XII of the Constitution, and the allocation of the States' respective shares.
It also covers the principles governing grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of the Consolidated Fund of India under Article 275.
The third head is the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities, on the basis of the recommendations made by that State's own Finance Commission.
The Sixteenth Finance Commission is chaired by Dr. Arvind Panagariya, and its Advance Cell was formed in the Ministry of Finance on 21.11.2022.