Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged the Union government for steps to cushion the impact of the fuel price on the common man.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, he said the BJP government was trying to shift the tax burden onto the common man while letting richer sections off the hook. “In the last financial year alone, the Centre had provided corporate tax relief worth ₹ 1.45 lakh crore. Of the ₹8.75 lakh crore of bank loans that were written off, the major share was corporate loans”, he observed, adding that the amount could have been better utilised for subsidies to lessen the impact of the price rise on the common man.
Rejecting the Centre’s contention that fuel prices would fall if included in the GST regime, he said LPG price was going up even though it was in the GST regime. Mr. Vijayan said the Congress should take a look at States where they were in power before calling on the LDF government in Kerala to cut its share of tax on fuel. “While other States increased the tax on fuel during the pandemic, Kerala chose not to do that”, he said.
