Rajasthan hikes VAT on petrol, diesel from midnight
Rajasthan Government on Thursday hiked the value-added tax (VAT) on petrol by 2 per cent and on diesel by 1 per cent. The new prices of petrol and diesel will come in effect from Thursday midnight. Following this, the petrol and diesel will be costlier in Rajasthan from Friday.
It is the third hike since the COVID-19 lockdown was called by the Centre on March 25. Before lockdown, the VAT rate on petrol was 30 per cent and on diesel was 22 per cent.
The state government on Thursday increased the VAT on petrol to 38 per cent from 36 per cent earlier while on diesel to 28 per cent from 27 per cent earlier.
In the last week of March, the state government increased VAT by 4 percentage points on petrol and diesel and then in April-mid, it increased the rate by 2 percentage points on petrol and 1 percentage point on diesel.
Rajasthan Petroleum Dealers Association President Suneet Bagai said that the state government has revised the VAT rate third time in the last three months. The increased rate will burden the dealers as well as consumers.
"Cash strapped government has again increased VAT rate on fuel. It will burden dealers as well as consumers. Petrol and diesel pumps located in the border areas of neighbouring districts are on the verge of a shutdown due to increased VAT. Demand is continuously decreasing," said Bagai.
He said the prices of petrol and diesel in the state are higher than those in neighbouring states.
He said that revenue loss is due to decreasing sales and it is not wise to put a burden on common people, adding that the government should rather focus on generating non-tax revenue.
(With PTI inputs)
