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As rates of petrol and diesel touched new highs Friday, the Tamil Nadu government ruled out a tax cut citing welfare measures and put the onus on the Centre to give any relief to the common man.
Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said the state government was delivering various welfare measures to the tune of Rs 77,000 crore and hinted that lowering taxes on petroleum products may cause difficulty for continued delivery of sops.
“For the central government, which collects tax from many sources, it is not a big thing at all (to effect a tax cut). The central excise duty of about Rs 16 per litre (on diesel) can be halved to Rs 8 which will be a big relief,” he told reporters here. “This is the plea of the Amma government,” he said referring to the Tamil Nadu government.
On Friday, one litre of petrol in this city was being sold at Rs 83.13 while diesel cost Rs 76.17. The rising fuel prices have triggered a political debate, with the Congress announcing a nation-wide shutdown on September 10 against the spiralling rates.
The Centre has said it will not cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to cushion the spiralling prices, citing limited fiscal space available to take any dent in revenue collections.
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