ALAPPUZHA: Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac said the state will not reduce tax on petroleum products. Rejecting the Centre’s demand, he said such a move will ‘adversely affect the state’s revenues’.
“It was the Centre that increased the tax and they should be ready to reduce the Central taxes,” he told reporters here on Thursday.
“After the BJP came to power, the Centre increased the tax by Rs 9 per litre on petrol and Rs 14 per litre on diesel. Now they have reduced only Rs 1.5 from excise duty hike. If the Centre is ready to roll back the tax hikes completely, then they have a right to ask states to reduce tax. We will examine Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s directions in this regard,’’ said Isaac.
“There is no justification for Jaitley’s statement. The state government has already reduced the tax,’’ he said.“The Centre’s arguments that they had no role in fuel price hike is all hogwash. During the Karnataka polls, oil companies did not hike the price to help the BJP. Centre’s present move is with an eye on the upcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Now the oil marketing companies have reduced Rs 1 on the direction of Central government. So the Centre is trying to fool the public,” said Isaac.