New Delhi: The GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, may consider taxing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products under a single national GST regime during its meeting in Lucknow on Friday.
According to sources, the GST Council may also consider extending the time for duty relief on COVID-19 essentials, reported PTI.
Reading: WPI inflation rises to 11.39% in August on higher fuel prices
The Kerala High Court, based on a writ petition in June this year, had asked the council to take a decision on bringing petrol and diesel under the purview of GST.
In view of the High Court’s observation, sources said bringing petrol and diesel under GST will be placed before the Council, which includes Union and state finance ministers, for discussion.
When a national GST subsumed central taxes such as excise duty and state duty as VAT on July 1, 2017, five petroleum commodities including petrol, diesel, ATF, natural gas and crude oil were kept out of its purview as the Center and Both state and government finances depended heavily on taxes on these products.
Since GST is a consumption-based tax, bringing petro products under the regime would mean that the states in which these products are sold get the revenue and not the states which are currently the centers of production. get more benefits.
The GST Council may also discuss the modalities for continuation of the compensation cess beyond June 2022, besides considering extending the duty relief available on COVID-19 essentials.
The tax rates on various COVID-19 essentials were reduced till September 30 in the last meeting of the GST Council, which was earlier held through videoconferencing on June 12.
read also: Zomato co-founder Gaurav Gupta resigns, says ‘a new turning point is coming in my life’
This is the first time in 20 months that the GST Council, which is a governing body to regulate and direct each stage of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax in the country with decisions on tax rates and further implementation measures, has a physical meeting.
The last such meeting was held on December 18, 2019, before the first Covid-19-induced lockdown.
.