No Relief for People living in West Bengal as State CM Refuses to Reduce Tax on Fuel

Kolkata: The people who live in Bengal will have to pay more for Petrol and Diesel as Chief Minister of State – Mamata Banerjee refused to reduce tax on fuel on Monday. Mamata said her government will not follow suit since it had reduced state tax on fuel by a rupee in 2021.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government reduced central excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 8.00 and Rs 6.00 per litre respectively.

According to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bengal reduced its tax on fuel in February 2021. Bengal will suffer an annual loss of Rs 461.45 crore in state tax because of the Centre’s decision.

Mamata Banerjee further said that “With the Centre’s new announcement, Bengal’s share in tax on a litre of petrol has gone down by Rs 2.80. Of this, Rs 1.80 is because of the reduction in Central tax and another rupee is due to the reduction in state tax which is in force since last year. By the same formula, our share in tax on diesel has gone down by ₹2.03 per litre,”

Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said “Mamata Banerjee will not reduce state tax on petrol and diesel because it is her source of income,”

In Kolkata, the price of petrol on Monday was Rs 106.01 per litre while diesel sold for Rs 92.74. Of the total taxes charged on prices of petrol and diesel in Bengal, the state’s share accounts for around 37 percent.

(Vinayak)