Sushil Kumar Modi

Patna, June 26: Unlike Bengal, the LPG consumers in Bihar are unlikely to get any relief as deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi pointed out that the state was charging only 1 per cent sales tax on cooking gas cylinders.

Stressing that the state finance department was studying the possibility of reducing the sales tax on petroleum products, Modi today told The Telegraph: “Two years ago, there was a tax of 12.5 per cent. After the last hike in LPG cylinder price, we decided to charge 4 per cent VAT. It was further reduced to just one per cent before the last Assembly polls.”

“Till yesterday, the Bengal government was charging 4 per cent tax on LPG cylinders,” he said.

He pointed out that the sales tax on diesel was 18.36 per cent in Bihar.

“I have asked the finance department to see if the taxes of fuel products could be reduced further,” he said.

Taking a dig at the Congress ministers and leaders who issued a statement terming the Rs 3 price rise of per litre of diesel and Rs 50 per cylinder of LPG was minimum, Modi said: “It is like rubbing salt in the wound. It shows the Congress’s insensitivity towards the price rise of essential items.”

Reacting to the Union finance minister’s appeal to the states to bring down sales tax on petroleum products, Modi said the UPA government at the Centre lacked the moral authority to make such an appeal. He stressed that the Bihar government was the first one in the country to reduce taxes on LPG to just one per cent.

Modi dubbed the recent price rise as highly inflationary. He pointed out that the hike in petrol price was steeper than that of aviation turbine fuel.

Sources in the state government pointed out that though the sales tax on LPG cylinders was reduced to just one per cent, the state’s tax on petrol and diesel was higher than that in neighbouring states like Jharkhand.

“The consumers of Bihar have to pay more for these two products than those in Jharkhand,” an official of a petroleum company said.

The state’s sales tax on petroleum products contributes a major share in the state’s internal resources.

n Fuel price hike impact, Metro 13