63 per cent of tax on petrol goes to Centre, 37 per cent to state

Taxes played a major role behind the spiralling fuel prices in Bengal. The price of petrol approached 100 in the city and crossed the three-digit mark in most of the districts while the price of diesel has also crossed the Rs 90 mark two weeks ago. There are both central and state taxes on petrol and diesel.

The petrol price has touched Rs 99.84 in Kolkata. The central tax is Rs 32.90 (around 63% of total taxes on petrol in state) while the state tax is Rs 19.27. Similarly, the diesel price reached Rs 92.27 in the city. On this fuel the central tax is Rs 31.80 and the state tax Rs 13.08.

The base price of petrol in the city as on July 6 was only Rs 44.20 while that of diesel was Rs 45.16. Apart from taxes and the base price, the rest of the price components include freight charges and dealers’ commission.

Sources in oil companies said that in July 2019, the average price of petrol was Rs 72-75 and diesel was Rs 67-69 in the city. The central tax on petrol was Rs 20-21 while state tax was Rs 15-16.