Thiruvananthapuram: Finance Minister K n Balagopal has rejected the demand that the state government must forget some of its shares on fuel on fuel to make oil products more affordable in the state.
Such calls not only cannot be implemented and prematurely but also based on false reasons, he said.
“First, there is no logic behind the request that Kerala must forget the tax share as a reaction to the reduction announced by the center.
The center collects more tax per liter of fuel than the state.
Second, wrong to say there is no reduction in additional prices in Kerala.
The center cuts diesel prices and gasoline amounting to Rs 10 and RS 5, the effective reduction in Kerala each is Rs 12.30 and Rs 6.56.
Additional reduction is the contribution of the Kerala Government.
We do not need to make further reduction because the central government is mainly responsible for high prices , “he told reporters.
Balagopal said it was high that countries thought about propriety and central rights to collect large additional taxes / additional costs using constitutional provisions intended for resource mobilization during emergency situations.
Describing the tax system, he said unlike Chandy’s ommen exhibition, the LDF government has never tried to generate additional income by increasing state tax rates when the center reduces prices.
“Leaders speak as if the benefits of cascading (equal to Rs 2.30 and RS1.56) which are forwarded to people in Kerala are natural phenomena.
Not so.
Additional benefits have merged into the market simply because the state government decided not to revise taxes To maintain a tax flow to FECECUER, “he said.
While the center collects Rs 32.9 and Rs 31.8 per liter of diesel and gasoline sold in Indonesia.
The state, Kerala collected 30.08% tax per liter of diesel and 22.76% tax per liter of gasoline.
This is a fact, it’s natural that the price of fuel in Kerala will drop so the center reduces tax or price.
“No price.” No price.
“There is no need for the state to make additional tax deductions.
The Chandy government has raised taxes on fuel13 times to compensate for the benefits of reduction in prices by the center.
At the same time, the LDF government has cut tax rates on gasoline and diesel in June 2018.
At that time , it costs 5.09 crore Rs, “Balagopal said.
Considering the increase in the price of the next fuel, the state government has provided a suspension of 1,500 crore Rs tones to date, “Balagopal said.
The decline in tax revenue because the current price cuts will be more than RS 500 Crore during the current fiscal.
This will increase to Rs 1,000 Crore next year.
” The state government may not be able to carry out social welfare schemes if it makes additional cuts in fuel taxes, “he said.
The minister also said Kerala was one of several countries that did not impose petroleum taxes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Countries such as rising , Goa, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka have increased fuel prices for additional resource mobilization, he added.