Once again exposing the duplicity of the Congress party and its allies, the Congress-JDS Karnataka government has decided to increase the VAT on fuel, thereby increasing the prices of Petrol and Diesel in the state. The VAT on petrol has been raised from 28.75% to 32%, while the same on Diesel is increased from 17.73% to 21%. After the increase, petrol will cost ₹70.84 and diesel will cost ₹64.66 in the state.

Karnataka: Tax rates on petrol and diesel have been revised to 32% and 21% from 28.75% and 17.73%, respectively. The prices now stand at Rs 70.84/litre for petrol and Rs 64.66/ litre for diesel. — ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2019

It can be noted that when fuel prices were high until a couple of months ago, Congress president Rahul Gandhi regularly criticised the Modi government for the same. He has been demanding that fuel taxes should be brought under GST, which he describes as Gabbar Singh Tax. The Congress president has been demanding that the government should bring down the fuel prices.

Dear PM, Glad to see you accept the @imVkohli fitness challenge. Here’s one from me: Reduce Fuel prices or the Congress will do a nationwide agitation and force you to do so. I look forward to your response.#FuelChallenge — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 24, 2018

The BJP Govt. collected 10 Lakh Crore in taxes on Petrol/LPG/Diesel since 2014. Yet, NO relief in prices for our citizens. This video shows the truth about fuel prices under PM Modi. I will lead a protest against these prices in Kolar at Noon, today.#BJPReducePetrolPrices pic.twitter.com/YCnKwDPm6W — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 7, 2018

The tax component in fuel prices is quite high in India, and it has been demanded to be reduced for a long time. Ironically, Rahul Gandhi’s own governments have been refusing to do, while he keeps attacking the BJP government. In October last year, the union government had reduced fuel prices by ₹2.50. The excise duty was slashed by ₹1.50, while the oil marketing companies were asked to take a cut of ₹1.00. Simultaneously, the finance ministry had requested the states to cut the VAT by a similar amount so that fuel prices come down by ₹5.00.

While most NDA ruled states had reduced VAT accordingly, states ruled by opposition parties had refused to do so, including Karnataka. With today’s increase in taxes, it again proves that while opposition parties attack the central government to earn political mileage, they themselves want the high taxes on fuel to continue and can’t let go the revenue it brings.

- Advertisement -

Fuel prices have come down substantially over last several weeks, following the reduction in international crude prices.