THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The common man, who is already hit by inflation, is struggling to cope with the hike in petrol and diesel prices over the past week. Meanwhile, the hike in fuel prices was an unexpected gift to the state government, which was reeling under the financial crisis.

About 40 per cent of the state government's own tax revenue comes from petrol and diesel. The state earns Rs 850 crore per month from petrol and diesel. The government will be getting an additional revenue of over Rs 46 crore per month from the price hike in the last week. At the same time, an additional Rs 211 crore is draining from the pockets of the people.

International crude oil prices soared to $ 130 a barrel as a result of the Ukraine-Russia war. However, the taxes levied by the central and state governments are actually leading to a huge increase in prices. In addition to the base price, the retail price of petrol and diesel includes excise duty, transportation charge, sales tax, additional sales tax, social security cess and dealer commission.

In Kerala, petrol has 30.08% sales tax, one rupee additional sales tax, one percent social security cess. On the other hand, diesel has 22.76 per cent sales tax, one rupee additional sales tax and one per cent social security cess.

By selling petrol for Rs 100, the state will get Rs 22.96 and by selling diesel for Rs 100, it will get Rs 35.63. The daily volume of petrol and diesel sold in the state is 116 lakh litres. Accordingly, the state will get an additional 25 to 30 lakh rupees per day if even one rupee is added to diesel and petrol prices.

Petrol and diesel prices in the state have gone up by more than Rs 6 a litre in the last one week. Accordingly, the state exchequer has received an additional amount of at least Rs 1.53 crore per day. 46 crore per month. In addition, the state will get a share of the excise tax collected by the Centre. In the present scenario, fuel prices are likely to go up further.

State not announcing tax cuts

The last time the state reduced fuel taxes was in 2018. At that time, the tax on diesel was reduced from 24.52% to 22.76% and on petrol from 31.8% to 30.8%. In November last year, the central government had reduced petrol prices by Rs 5 and diesel by Rs 10. However, the state did not reduce taxes then.

Price change for the last one week (Thiruvananthapuram)

107.12 per litre of petrol - Rs. 113.27 yesterday.
Diesel was priced at Rs 94.22 per litre - Rs 100.16 yesterday.