Contending that the Centre had not changed the basic excise duty that it shares with the States, BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai on Tuesday said additional excise duty and additional cess levied on various sectors were not part of the devolution pool, and they were being used for specific schemes.
He reiterated his demand that the Tamil Nadu government reduce the fuel prices as promised in the DMK election manifesto.
“The additional excise duty and additional cess levied on the agriculture infrastructure and development cess and the road and infrastructure cess are being reduced [by the Centre],” he said in a statement. The Central government had reduced the level that was not shared with the States, he said.
The global crude oil prices do not seem to come down. “The Central government understands that our people cannot pay beyond a reasonable limit, and thus has reduced the excise duty on petroleum products [petrol and diesel] for the second time,” he said in a statement.
For the first time, the Tamil Nadu government’s Value Added Tax (VAT) was higher than the excise duty imposed by the Central government, he said. “If the tax that the State imposes on petroleum products is higher than the excise duty imposed by the Centre, how can there be a revenue loss to the State?”
He charged the DMK government with being deceitful by not honouring the election promise to cut petrol price by ₹5 a litre and diesel price by ₹4 a litre. It had only cut the petrol price by ₹3 a litre (last year). Besides, it had not given the promised subsidy of ₹100 on LPG cylinders.
“Unlike Tamil Nadu, other States have reduced their taxes on fuels following the reduction in the Central government’s excise duty,” he said. But the DMK government continued its unjustified activities, disregarding the interests of the State and its people.
He wanted the government to reverse the order passed in March 2020 and calculate the State Value Added Tax as a percentage of the cost price.
