Tuesday, March 2, 2021

 TN consumers paying Rs 55.74 as taxes to avail one litre of petro

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI:
As the Petrol price hovers close to Rs 100, The New Indian Express accessing data from petroleum dealers have learnt that the common man is paying Rs 55.74 as tax to avail one litre of petrol which costs around Rs 92 per litre in the state. According to break up provided by Tamil Nadu Petroleum Dealers Association, the base price of petrol is Rs 32.28 while the excise duty of Centre is Rs 32.90, which is more than the base price. Similarly, the value added tax or state government tax of Rs 22.84 adds to the cost of petrol.

Other costs include freight charges which cost Rs 0.29 paise and dealer commission which is only Rs 3.39.

Similarly, in the case of diesel, the common man is paying Rs 48.67 as taxes and other charges to avail one litre of diesel which is priced at Rs 84.97. while the base price of diesel is Rs 33.80, the excise duty of diesel thankfully is Rs 31.80 which is thankfully below the base price of diesel (33.80). The state tax on diesel is Rs 16.87.

However,  the freight charge is 0.29 paise and the dealer commission is Rs 2.21 only for diesel.

While the Centre is keen on Centre-State dialogue to bring the fuel prices to a reasonable prices stressing on common taxation under GST, the state feels the Centre is to be blamed for imposing cess last year which has resulted in increase in petrol prices.

According to sources, in March, 2020, the special additional excise duty (surcharge) on auto fuels was increased by Rs 2 per litre and road cess was raised by Rs 1 per litre. Subsequently in May, 2020, road cess on petrol and diesel was increased again by Rs 8 per litre, while the surcharge was hiked by Rs 2 per litre for petrol and Rs 5 per litre for diesel.

Interestingly, the finance Minister in the Budget for the 2021-22 fiscal tweaked excise duty structure to accommodate an agriculture infrastructure development cess, whose accruals would not be shared with the states.

The government had last year hiked excise duty by Rs 13 and Rs 16 per litre to mop up benefits arising from falling international oil prices. It hasn't cut the duty now that oil prices have risen, resulting in fuel prices climbing to record highs.