Duty cut, state to lose Rs1,000 cr: Manpreet
Friday, 02/02/2018
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/duty-cut-state-to-lose-rs1-000-cr-manpreet/537411.html
Chandigarh : The Punjab Government stands to lose Rs 1,000 crore in its central devolution, with the Union Government reducing the basic excise duty on petroleum products by Rs 2 per litre. This would mean that the state’s share in the 42 per cent central tax devolution would decrease.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced the abolition of additional excise duty of Rs 6 per litre on petroleum products and introduction of Rs 8 per litre as road and infrastructure cess. While the Centre will earn around Rs 40,000 crore on account of Rs 2 per litre increase on levies on these products, the states will not get any share in this, as their devolution is linked to the basic duties on petro products.
Punjab gets an average of Rs 425 crore per month as VAT on petroleum products. Petrol and diesel have been kept out of the purview of the GST, and is an important source of revenue, realised each month by the states. In the current fiscal, Punjab is earning Rs 5,100 crore as VAT from petrol and diesel.
Taking up the case strongly against the Union Government, state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said while the Centre was collecting thousands of crores, it was “forcing cuts” on the money to be devolved to the states. “This would hit the state’s fiscal health,” he claimed.
Manpreet claimed that Punjab’s rural agrarian economy too would not benefit much from the additional allocation of funds for institutional agriculture credit. “Even the move to increase the minimum support price by 1.5 times is more of a ‘jumla’ by the BJP-led government, as the total fund allocation to the agricultural sector has increased by just Rs 5,000 crore. The trick lies in the calculation of the input cost, when the Centre says it wants to increase MSP. Only if they are to take it per the Ramesh Chand Committee (a member of Niti Aayog), it would benefit farmers,” he said.
