Chennai: Tamilnadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday informed the State Assembly that the ruling DMK had honoured its poll promise and reduced the State tax on petrol.
Replying to Congress floor leader K.Selvaperunthagai, who referred to
Prime Minister’s remarks urging some States including Tamilnadu to cut taxes on fuel, the Chief Minister blamed the BJP-led NDA regime at the Centre and said it was reducing on fuel prices at the time of Assembly elections in a few States and hike them several times after the poll process were completed.
However, the Tamilnadu government reduced the State tax on petrol
as promised, he said.
Stalin also elaborated on how the Union government reduced the excise
duty and increased the cess and the surcharge on fuel, affecting the people
as well as the States.
‘Since it (BJP) came power in 2014, whenever crude oil prices reduced, the
Union Government, instead of reducing the petrol and diesel prices accordingly, kept the surplus to itself it had generated due to the fall in crude oil prices’, he said.
‘In view of the elections in few States, the Union government gave the impression that it was reducing the petrol and diesel prices only to hike them more than the previous level putting more burden on the people’, he said,
However, the DMK government, after winning the Assembly elections in May last year, cut down on the State taxes on petrol by Rs three a litre despite the financial burden, even before the Union government did, Stalin said.
‘People were aware of all these. I leave it to the people to decide on who is truly interested in cutting down fuel prices and who is pretending to cut down the prices only to blame others,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan said given that the Union government’s taxes continue to be exorbitant, it is neither fair nor feasible for the State government to further reduce taxes.
In a statement here, he said, ‘We have repeatedly urged the Union government to reduce the cesses and surcharges being levied and merge them with the basic tax rates so that States get their rightful share from the proceeds of the Union taxes’.
‘Given that the Union government’s taxes continue to be exorbitant, it is neither fair nor feasible for the State government to further reduce taxes. We reiterate that the sole, simple, and fair approach to improve the situation for all, is for the Union government to remove the levy of cesses and surcharges and revert to rates that prevailed in 2014’, he said and hoped that the Union government will heed to this reasonable request in the true spirit of co-operative federalism.
He said contrary to Modi’s remarks, the State government under the
leadership of Chief Minister Stalin had in fact cut the VAT on petrol
back in August 2021, prior to the Union government’s action.