Diesel and petrol may come under the purview of GST: GST Council meeting in Lucknow on September 17, preparation of one nation-one price; There could be many more big decisions

If the GST Council approves the proposal of the Group of Ministers, then the prices of petrol and diesel will become the same in all the states of the country.

The central government can take a big decision before the assembly elections to be held in 5 states of the country next year. According to sources, the government has started considering bringing petrol-diesel, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel (aircraft fuel) under the purview of GST under the ‘Ek Desh-One Price’ scheme. This is likely to be discussed in the meeting of the GST Council in Lucknow on September 17. This will be the first physical meeting of the GST Council since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will preside over this 45th meeting of the GST Council. During this, the Group of Ministers can discuss the proposal of ‘One Desh-One Price’. Discussions can be held in the meeting to bring one or more petroleum products under the purview of GST.

Petrol and diesel prices may come down
If the GST Council approves the proposal of the Group of Ministers, then the prices of petrol and diesel will become the same in all the states of the country. Not only this, due to uniform GST, the prices of petrol and diesel will come down drastically. However, the GST Council does not agree with this proposal. Sources claim that in view of the revenue, the higher officials of the GST Council are not ready to impose uniform GST on petroleum products.

GST on petrol and diesel earns the most
In the financial year 2019-20, the state and central government had received revenue of 5.55 lakh crore from petroleum products. In this, the governments got the maximum revenue from petrol and diesel. Central government is taking 32% tax on petrol and state government is taking about 23.07% tax. On the other hand, the central 35 and the state governments are charging more than 14% tax on diesel.

Tax exemption can also be given in the treatment of corona
In the meeting, exemption from tax can also be given on equipment and medicines related to corona treatment. At the same time, Aadhaar can be made mandatory for more than eight million firms. Not only this, the GST Council will consider the report of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to allow special cess on pharma and electricity in Sikkim.

Considering imposing special cess in this state
According to sources, Sikkim is in favor of allowing the GoM to levy 1% cess on inter-state supply of pharma items and Rs 0.1 per unit on consumption or sale of electricity for three years. However, this is a state matter which is outside the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The GoM has urged the Center to consider a special package of Rs 300 crore per annum as assistance to Sikkim by 2023 to help it recover losses due to COVID-19.