Fuel price shoots up in Many States
petrol and diesel prices in india witnessed a considerable mark-up today, May 27, 2020, on the back of the delhi government’s decision to hike tax rates levied on fuel. petrol prices climbed to Rs 71.26 per litre from Rs 69.59 per litre on May 4 (an increase of Rs 1.67 per litre) and diesel prices jumped to Rs 69.39 per litre from Rs 62.29 per litre the previous day (a significant markup of Rs 7.10 per litre).
According to a PTI report, the arvind kejriwal government recently hiked the local sales tax or the value added tax (VAT) component of motor fuels. The revised tax rate stands at 30 percent for petrol from the earlier 27 percent, while diesel now attracts almost twice the duty 30 percent compared to 16.75 percent before. As a result, VAT makes up for a substantial Rs 16.44 per litre of petrol prices and Rs 16.26 per litre of diesel prices in the national capital as of May 5, according to the indian oil Corporation’s data.
delhi government’s latest move comes due to conditional relaxations in the third phase of the lockdown which expects see an uptick in the number of road users and fuel consumption. With taxation of fuels forming a significant portion of a state’s revenue streams, the nationwide lockdown dealt a considerable blow to state incomes across India. Earlier, kejriwal was reported to have expressed concerns over his government’s revenue in april 2020, which was only a fraction compared to the figure from a year ago. Though an increased burden on commuters, the hike in taxes is aimed at providing a fillip to the delhi government’s revenue streams.