Dealers urge CM to reduce fuel VAT, remove road cess
Rajasthan Petroleum Dealers Association (RPDA) has written to chief minister Vasundhara Raje seeking for further reduction in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and for removal of road cess charged on fuel.
RPDA president Suneet Bagai and secretary Shashank Kaurani Thursday urged the chief minister to reduce VAT by Rs 2.50 more and remove the road cess of Rs 1.50 per litre on petrol and Rs 1.75 per litre on diesel.
RPDA officials justify removing road cess, saying it is not required now as the prices of petrol and diesel are continuously increasing.
The cess was imposed when the price of fuel was on the decline.
The Centre reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2.50 and requested all the states to reduce VAT rates, while saying that any loss incurred from a reduced VAT will be compensated.
Maharashtra government acted on the request and reduced the VAT rates on petrol, while Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have reportedly begun the process and may soon announce the reduction, according to Bagai.
“Rajasthan government should also reduce the VAT by Rs 2.50, which will provide big relief to people who are already
JAIPUR:
burdened with inflation,” he said.
Kaurani said the state government had last month reduced the VAT by 4%, but after that the price of petrol and diesel kept increasing, thus balancing out any benefit that people may have gotten with the reduced VAT.
State industry minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat said cess is charged for a specific purpose, like Rajasthan’s road cess, which is spent only on the construction and/or maintenance of roads. He said there is “no sense” in removing the road cess at this point. Similarly, the fuel prices are equivalent to the neighbouring states, so the chief minister will have to take a call on whether to reduce it or not.