Meghalaya: No plans to reduce tax on fuel, indicates Commissioner of Taxes

SHILLONG:

Meghalaya Commissioner of Taxes Arun Kembhavi on Wednesday said that the State Government has no plans to reduce the taxes on petrol and diesel.

“As of now, there are no such plans. Taxation on petroleum products is only a small part. The price of diesel and petrol are being regulated by the market,” Kembhavi informed TNT-The Northeast Today over telephone from Kohima (Nagaland).

According to him, the taxation of the State depends on the other North-Eastern States taxation.

“So we cannot unilaterally reduce the price of petrol and diesel without taking into consideration the taxes of other States,” the Commissioner of Taxes added.

It may be mentioned that the Meghalaya Joint Action Committee of Commercial Vehicles has called for an indefinite strike starting February 3 demanding a rollback of the tax levied on fuel prices.

Supporting the move, the Opposition Congress has demanded the government to revisit its decision and termed it as "legal extortion".

Meanwhile, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Feb 1, informed that the government will review the increase of fuel prices.

“We will see what impact it would have on our resources and factor in that it will not impact the people too much. Critical balancing over this is the need of the hour,” Sangma had stated.