Govt must roll back VAT, says BJP

Says price in petrol, diesel ‘arbitrarily increased during its regime’

May 25, 2018 01:40 am | Updated 01:40 am IST - New Delhi

 Government “deprived the people of even the benefits extended to them by the Union government by raising VAT”, said Vijender Gupta.

Government “deprived the people of even the benefits extended to them by the Union government by raising VAT”, said Vijender Gupta.

The Leader of Opposition (LoP) Vijender Gupta on Thursday demanded that the Delhi government immediately roll back VAT, to the extent of 12% on petrol and 10.5% on diesel “arbitrarily increased during its regime.”

‘Gross injustice’

The continuation of both taxes, Mr. Gupta alleged, was ‘a gross injustice’ to residents of the city, particularly when Delhi had become cash-rich with a budget allocation of ₹53,000 crore for this fiscal year.

“Out of the increased VAT, 5% is on account of the Centre’s advice while reducing ₹2 in its excise duty during last October. The remaining are on account of arbitrary increase in VAT during 2015 and 2016. The consumers of petrol products are being over-burdened by the continuation of these arbitrarily imposed taxes,” the Rohini legislator alleged.

The LOP submitted that when the Centre reduced the basic excise duty on petrol and diesel by ₹2 per litre last October, it advised States to lower value added tax on these products in order to provide relief to customers.

The Centre, he said, had suggested a reduction of VAT on these by 5% following which Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra reduced VAT on petrol and diesel.

“But the Delhi government has lagged behind in implementing the reduced VAT. Not only this, it should consider withdrawing 7% and 5.5% additional VAT unreasonably imposed on Delhiites during 2015 and 2016,” he said.

‘Unacceptable factors’

Mr. Gupta argued that the Delhi government had earlier raised VAT on two occasions to the extent of 7% on petrol and 5.5% on diesel attributing it to “unacceptable factors.”

“During the year 2015, when the Union government reduced the rates of petrol and diesel by ₹2 per litre, the Delhi government immediately raised VAT on 14 July, 2015 on petrol from 20% to 25% and on diesel from 12.5% to 16.6%. Thus VAT on petrol was increased by 5% and on diesel by 4.1%,” he said.

Instead of providing relief to the people at that time, the LOP argued, the Delhi government “deprived the people of even the benefits extended to them by the Union government by raising VAT.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.