The Maharashtra government pared its value added tax (VAT) levies on petrol and diesel by ₹2.08 and ₹1.44 per litre respectively on Sunday, a day after criticising the Centre for offering minimal tax cuts after drastic hikes over its tenure, a sentiment echoed by most Opposition-ruled States.
Telangana Finance Minister T. Harish Rao termed the Centre’s partial reduction of the cess levied on petroleum products ‘bogus’ and ‘humbug’, and joined his Tamil Nadu counterpart P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan in calling for further cuts in the Union taxes as they had been hiked sharply since 2014.
After announcing the excise duty cuts on petrol and diesel of ₹8 and ₹6 per litre on Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plea for States that had not cut their taxes since November 2021 — when the Centre announced the last round of tax cuts — to do so now.