Centre didn’t ask before hiking fuel prices; why exhort states to cut VAT now, asks TN finance minister
India Today
Tamil Nadu's finance minister criticised the excise duty cut announcement. He said that the centre did not ask states before hiking fuel prices, then why exhort them now to cut VAT.
Hours after the Centre slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister P Thiaga Rajan criticised the Union government, accusing them of 'exhorting states to cut taxes'.
On microblogging site Twitter, P Thiaga Rajan wrote: The Union Government didn't INFORM, let alone ASK for ANY state's view when they INCREASED Union taxes on Petrol ~23 Rs/ltr (+250%) & Diesel ~29 Rs/ltr (+900%) from 2014. Now, after rolling back ~50% of their INCREASES, they're EXHORTING States to cut. Is this Federalism ?
The Union Government didn't INFORM, let alone ASK for ANY state's view when they INCREASED Union taxes on Petrol ~23 Rs/ltr (+250%) & Diesel ~29 Rs/ltr (+900%) from 2014Now, after rolling back ~50% of their INCREASES, they're EXHORTING States to cutIs this Federalism ? https://t.co/moYsfqHtdL
On Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a cut in excise duty. A price reduction of Rs 8 and Rs 6 per litre was announced for petrol and diesel, respectively. This will reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and of diesel by Rs 7 per litre.
READ | Fruits and vegetables price to reduce following decrease in fuel rates
On Twitter, Sitharaman had written, "I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man."
Also, the Centre has decided to give a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (upto 12 cylinders) to over nine crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
