Amid a clamour for cut in taxes on auto fuels to check their skyrocketing retail prices, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday told a group of journalists at the Indian Women’s Press Corps that the government was not yet ready with a plan to bring these petroleum products under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, but indicated that it might take a call on the issue closer to the GST Council meeting.
Sitharaman, however, was non-committal on whether the states would be compensated for any revenue shortfall arising out of inclusion of these fuels under GST. Since a major part of the Centre’s taxes on the fuels are not shared with states (GST receipts are shareabale), it would also have to assess the revenue implications of the move.
