Centre earned Rs 2.8 L cr from taxes on petrol, diesel

The Centre earned close to Rs 2.8 lakh crore through taxes on petrol, diesel, and other petroleum products, while the states garnered Rs 1.9 lakh crore in 2016-17, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Half of the Rs 2,73,502 crore that the Centre received in 2016-17, came from excise duty on petroleum products alone. Rest of the taxes and other levies included cess on crude oil at Rs 13,285 crore, royalty on crude oil/gas at Rs 4,649 crore, customs duty at Rs 9,521 crore, service tax at Rs 2,956 crore, and other levies at Rs 399 crore.

The information was given by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla in a written reply on the average annual amount of revenue generated from the petroleum industry through taxation.

The minister said that the states earned a total of Rs 1,89,587 crore in the same year through taxes on petroleum products, which consisted of royalty, sales tax, octroi, electricity duty, entry tax and others. In the states too, sales tax garnered Rs 1,66,378 crore of the total sum.

To another question on whether the government proposed to reduce the taxes levied on petrol and diesel, Shukla said the Centre had reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre in October. It also requested the states to reduce VAT imposed by them on petrol and diesel. But so far only Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh have reduced VAT on petrol and diesel.