Stalin urges TN govt to reduce taxes on petroleum products

Opposition DMK today slammed the "oppressive taxation" on petrol and diesel and urged the Tamil Nadu government to reduce taxes on these products to benefit the common man.

DMK Working President and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, M K Stalin, asked Chief Minister K Palaniswami to take a cue from Gujarat and Maharashtra in this regard.

The two BJP-ruled states had yesterday reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel, resulting in them getting cheaper.

They had effected the changes after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recently written to states asking them to reduce taxes on these. The Centre had recently brought down excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre.

Stalin recalled that the M Karunanidhi-led DMK government had in the past reduced taxes on petrol and diesel in the state during certain rate revisions of the products.

"People are struggling hard due to the oppressive taxation on petrol and diesel which has led to prices of petrol to hover around Rs 70.96 and diesel at Rs 60.04 (in Chennai)," he said.

It was the government's duty to "ease this pain" which people faced, he added.

"Hence, I insist this (AIAMDK) government to follow the actions initiated by Gujarat and Maharashtra and transfer the benefit to people by reducing the taxes," Stalin said.

He said daily revision of prices of petrol and diesel due to the "central BJP government's dynamic pricing policy has proved to be a huge burden, especially for the poor and middle class sections of the population."