Rajasthan government will reduce VAT on fuel: Ashok Gehlot

Jodhpur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said his government will reduce VAT on fuel like other states, hours after he urged the Centre to further slash excise duty and cited fund crunch caused by the Covid pandemic.

The Centre on November 3 slashed excise duty on petrol by `5 per litre and on diesel by `10 a litre to give reprieve to consumers battered by record-high retail fuel prices. The State Government has been under pressure from the opposition over the issue after several states, including Congress-ruled Punjab, cut down the price of petrol and diesel. 

The politics over the issue intensified after the Punjab Government claimed in an advertisement that fuel prices there are lower than Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan. 

Gehlot addressing a progarmme at a Jodhpur village said, "When all states have reduced the prices, we would also have to reduce it."           "Our government will also provide relief to people by reducing VAT on petrol and diesel in the state," he said. Still holding the Centre responsible for high fuel prices, Gehlot said the Union government "looted" people by levying massive taxes on fuel."Now, they have provided a meagre relief," he said, adding that the Centre should further reduce



taxes on petrol and diesel.           

Earlier in the day, Gehlot in a statement demanded that the Centre should further reduce excise duty by Rs 10 on petrol and `15 on diesel. 

If the Centre reduces excise duty then automatically VAT in the state will reduce by `3.40 on petrol and ` 3.90 on diesel. As a result, Rajasthan is ready to bear a revenue loss of `3,500 crore, he said in the statement.

He said after 2016, the Centre has reduced the state share in excise duty on fuel and states do not get any share from additional or special excise duty charged by it. "Increasing excise duty excessively first and then reducing it and simultaneously creating a competitive environment among states to reduce VAT is against the spirit of cooperative federalism," Gehlot said. He said during the coronavirus lockdown, the Centre had increased the excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 and on diesel by ` 13 per litre.

Gehlot said in 2021, the price of petrol increased by about ` 27 and that of diesel by about `25. Out of the excessively hiked additional excise duty, only some relief was given, he said. As such, the reduction in excise duty by the Centre appears to be insufficient, he added.