In an apparent game of one-upmanship with the UPA government, Chief Minister Mayawati said the state government will not charge the Commercial Tax on petroleum products as per the revised rates declared by the Centre on Wednesday.

Following her decision, the consumers will be exempted from the tax amounting to Rs 0.31 per liter of petrol and Rs 0.16 per liter of diesel in the state. The consumers will have to pay only Rs 4 per liter on petrol and Rs 2 on diesel extra as hiked by the Centre.

Earlier, the BSP government had marginally reduced the tax on petrol and diesel after the Centre announced the hike in price of petroleum products on June 7, 2008. The state government later increased the tax on petrol and diesel by one per cent after the Centre reduced the price in January 2009.

At present, UP has 26 per cent tax on petrol and 21 per cent on diesel, together constituting as much as 30 per cent of the Value Added Tax collections. Petrol and diesel are in the unclassified category of the VAT since VAT rates cannot exceed 12.5 per cent.

Mayawati alleged that the Congress-led UPA government has backstabbed the people by hiking the price and the move only benefits the corporate world.

“The slogan, Congress ka haath, aam admi ke saath is now exposed and has changed to Congress ka haath, punjipati ke saath,” she said. The CM demanded that the Centre withdrew the hike in fuel prices, as this would cause immense hardship to the poor and middle classes.

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