THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition members on Wednesday accused the state government of slashing various taxes of foreign made foreign liquor in order to help global liquor giants. Speaking at a media briefing, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan MLA accused that the Excise department has clandestinely slashed the excise duty of Foreign Made Foreign Liquor (FMFL) to R594 per case against the R1,600 charged for the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL).
Similarly, the Excise Department cut down the warehouse margin of FMFL to 5 per cent per case, against 8 per cent being charged for IMFL. The retail margin of FMFL has also seen a drop with the department slashing the rate to 3 per cent against the 20 per cent charged for IMFL. The biggest cut was in sales tax with the department slashing the rate to 78 per cent for the FMFL from the 210 per cent charged for IMFL, he said.
This is a clear case of corruption and the government has not divulged the details of the tax cuts in reply to the repeated questions of the Opposition members in the Assembly. “The new deal has opened a window for the state government to indulge in the corruption to the tune of crores of rupees”, said Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala. K M Mani, M K Muneer and T A Ahmed Kabir took part in the briefing.