New Delhi: As fuel prices saw their fourth increase this month due to the continuing West Asia crisis, the states with the lowest fuel prices remain predominantly in the BJP-ruled regions, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Goa, and Assam. Conversely, the states with the highest fuel prices are primarily the Congress-ruled and the INDIA bloc southern regions, namely Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, which impose the highest VAT rates in the nation.
For example, Delhi now has petrol at Rs 102 per litre, and Gujarat at Rs 101 per litre. However, in Telangana, the petrol prices have reached over Rs 118 per litre; in Kerala, Rs 114.9 per litre; and in Karnataka, Rs 110.3 per litre.
The Congress that lectures the Central government on fuel prices imposes an additional tax of Rs 16 per litre on its own citizens.
The cumulative petrol and diesel revision of around Rs 7.5 a litre in four days this month is still the “smallest material upward movement” of any major economy outside the directly subsidising Gulf producers, and the states that tax fuel most heavily are governed by the political opposition, according to data.
Andhra Pradesh charges 31 per cent VAT plus Rs 4 a litre plus a road development cess, taking the effective rate close to 35 per cent. Kerala adds a social security cess on top of its base VAT.
Meanwhile, six states have petrol at or below Rs 102 a litre: Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Goa, and Assam. All six are governed by the BJP.
The same opposition leadership that asks the Central government to cut excise duty to give relief to consumers has at no point cut the value-added tax that their own state governments levy on the same litre of fuel, according to sources.
When the Central excise duty was cut on March 27 by Rs 10 a litre on petrol and diesel, the BJP-ruled states passed the full cut through to the retail pumps.
The assertion that the Central government overtaxes fuel is contradicted by state-level data. The states that impose the highest fuel taxes are not the Central government; rather, they are the political opponents of the Centre.
(IANS)
