Petrol, diesel under GST? Sitharaman says 'ready to discuss'
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said she was ready to discuss bringing petrol and diesel under GST in the next council meet.
"A point which members raised - bring petrol & diesel into GST. Highest tax today on petrol and diesel is in Maharashtra. I'm not pointing out whether one state is more or less. The point is, states also tax fuel, not just Centre. When Centre taxes it's part of devolvable amount," Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha today.
"Centre also taxes, states also tax. If there is this concern about fuel tax, I honestly think based on today's discussion - many of the states would be watching this & in the next GST council if that discussion comes up, I will be glad to have it on the agenda and discuss it," she further said.
Last week, Sitharaman had said that there was no proposal to bring crude oil, petrol, diesel, jet fuel (ATF) and natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). When the GST was introduced on July 1, 2017, amalgamating over a dozen central and state levies, five commodities - crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) - were kept out of its purview given the revenue dependence of the central and state governments on this sector.
This meant that the central government continued to levy excise duty on them while state governments charged VAT. These taxes, with excise duty, in particular, have been raised periodically.
While the taxes haven't come down, a spike in global oil prices on-demand recovery has pushed petrol and diesel to an all-time high, leading to demand for them come under the GST.
READ MORE: Govt to bring petrol, diesel, ATF, gas under GST? No, says Sitharaman
