The union government is fleecing the citizens of the country by imposing exorbitant cesses and surcharges. Since 2017-18, these additional taxes have increased by a whopping 133%.
In 2017-18, on a daily average, the centre collected Rs. 600 crores which now jumped to Rs. 1,400 crores in 2022-23. In total, the centre has earned Rs. 2,18,553 crores in 2017-18 through cesses and surcharges, the amount has risen to Rs. 5,10,549 crores in 2022-23.
In addition to financial burden on citizens, the flipside of this slashing is the states won’t get any share from cess and surcharge unlike regular central taxes. Hence, the centre is imposing heavy cesses and surcharges and indirectly affecting the state’s revenues.
Recently, the union government has reduced Rs. 2.50 and Rs. 4 per litre as taxes on petrol and diesel respectively and slapped a new cess on fuel. As a result, states are losing Rs. 1.03 and Rs. 1.64 per litre on petrol and diesel respectively.
In all, troubling the state’s finances and diverting the funds to the centre’s kitty has been the motto of the BJP-led union government.