Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition demanded that the government provide fuel subsidies to the most eligible, so as to provide some relief from the upward spiralling fuel prices.
The suggestion from opposition leader V D Satheesan came after the ruling front and the opposition locked horns over the fuel prices increasing daily.
Seeking leave for adjournment motion, N Shamsudheen raised the matter, which then turned into a political blame game on who offered tax relief more number of times to reduce the impact of fuel price increase to the public.
Shamsudheen claimed that Oommen Chandy-led UDF government had waived additional taxes on petroleum fuels on seven instances to give up Rs 619.17 crore that could have been added to the state treasury, to provide relief to the public.
He demanded that the state should demand the Centre to bring petroleum fuels also under the ambit of GST so that there is a cap on taxes.
Replying to the opposition, finance minister K N Balagopal said that the UPA government began deregulation of fuel prices, and the NDA government continued it.
He said that compared to Kerala, the taxes on fuels imposed by other states, including Congress-ruled states, are much higher.
He said that the previous UDF government increased the taxes on petrol 13 times and five times on diesel, and had taken the rate of state taxes to 31.8% and 24.52% respectively for petrol and diesel.
This was then reduced by the previous LDF government to 30.08% and 22.76% in 2018, which is the state’s current tax rate for petrol and diesel.
He said that the prices of petrol and diesel and extra-neutral alcohol (ENA) are the only two products that are left out of the ambit of GST, and if these are also included, the state will not have anything left on its own for taxation.
He said that the Union government’s economic policies should be opposed together by LDF and UDF, setting aside political differences.
Satheesan, meanwhile, said that the state government had no moral right to attack the Centre as it was enjoying the share of benefits of excise duty on fuel.
He said that instead of ensuring “policy accrued economic rights” of the people, it is “tax terrorism” that is going on in the country.
He demanded that if the state does not want to waive taxes on fuels, the state should at least provide fuel subsidies to the most affected.
However, the opposition later staged a walk-out after speaker M B Rajesh denied permission for the motion, based on the finance minister’s reply.
Oppn demands subsidy to mitigate fuel price rise
