Mumbai: Amid state governments' apprehensions over a possible move by the Centre to bring petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Finance minister Ajit Pawar has said any attempt by the Union government to alter tax structures that adversely impact states' revenue generation will be opposed.
"Although nobody is speaking in public, there is a serious move on part of the Centre to bring petrol and diesel under GST citing one nation, one tax regime. While the centre has the right to evolve its own rules, any policy decision that adversely affects state revenue is not acceptable. In the name of the uniform tax regime, if states' right to taxation are curbed it will be opposed tooth and nail," said Pawar ahead of the GST Council meeting scheduled to be held in Lucknow on Friday.
"We wanted the GST Council meeting in Delhi. It would have been more convenient. Why are they holding it in Lucknow?" We also urged them to hold the meeting through video conferencing given the Covid-19 restrictions," he added.
On July 1, 2017, when GST was introduced amalgamating over a dozen central and state levies, five commodities namely — petrol, diesel, crude oil, natural gas ad aviation turbine fuel — were kept out of the GST ambit. The decision was carefully taken keeping in view these five products generated higher revenue on which both centre and state depended heavily.