(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Kerala's coalition government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has rejected the federal request to reduce taxes on petrol and diesel.
The federal government had appealed to the states to follow suit after reducing central excise duty by two rupees this week. It also proposed to bring both under the newly-introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime abolishing double taxation.
'They raised the taxes 14 times (since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014), Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac said.
'Now they have cut a paltry Rs2 and ask us to do so. There's no logic in it after raising taxes at will. Let them cut it substantially, and then we will look into it.
The Congress party-led opposition is observing a daylong shutdown in the state on October 16 protesting what they describe as misrule by both the federal and state governments.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) accuses them of plundering citizens while import of petroleum products had become much cheaper globally, resulting in a sharp rise in prices of essential commodities. The federal excise duty on diesel had increased by over 387% and petrol by 120% since 2014 while the crude oil prices nosedived to the one-third of what prevailed before that. It came as a bonanza for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation as the tax revenue from it more than tripled, but the government was spending less on welfare schemes its predecessor introduced, they allege.
The similar is the case with the state government also, which had increased the value added tax on petrol from 26% in 2014 to 31.8% now and diesel from 20% to 26.7%. The states also receive 42% share from the central taxes.
'We were reluctant to declare the shutdown, but people want such a protest this time as they are in distress, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy said.
'Both are plundering people without doing anything for them. They are not spending on improving conditions of roads or strengthening the public distribution system to control price rise. We cannot keep silent.
When the crude oil price was $150 per barrel in 2012, they say, the petrol price was Rs75 a litre in India, and now the crude cost has fallen to $57, but the retail prices remain the same. They say the current petrol price in the neighbouring Pakistan is only Rs40, Sri Lanka Rs50 and in Nepal, which imports petroleum products from India, it's just Rs52. In Kerala, it is Rs73.52, while in the neighbouring Karnataka state a litre of petrol costs Rs4 less.
The diesel price also shot up from Rs34 to Rs63.16. Now, after the cut by Rs2 this week, on each litre of petrol an individual buys, Rs21.48 goes as central excise duty and Rs17.94 as the state's VAT (Rs17.33 and Rs12.45 respectively in the case of diesel). They say that the Oommen Chandy dispensation in Kerala had foregone additional tax revenue from the price increase thrice, and his successor Pinarayi Vijayan also follow that example.
MENAFN0610201700670000ID1095926029
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.