THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An embattled UDF Government on Saturday pointed out that, in fact, the consumers stood to gain Rs 382 crore a year by waiving the additional sales tax thrice after coming to power. It was the very first decision taken by the new UDF Government to waive the additional tax when petrol prices went up by Rs 5 on May 19, a statement said. This had brought the petrol price down by Rs 1.22, saving the people Rs 132 crore a year. The second time the government decided to forego additional tax was when the diesel prices were jacked up by Rs 3. The waiver decreased the price by 75 paise per litre, with the state foregoing Rs 142 crore a year. The most recent waiver on additional sales tax came into effect from Saturday midnight with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy making the announcement in Kozhikode. With this, the price of petrol, which was increased by Rs 3.14 per litre, will come down by 70 paise - to Rs 68.56 from Rs 69.26. The state, on the other hand, stands to lose Rs 108 crore a year. The total liability caused by the three waivers has been pegged at Rs 382 crore a year, the statement said. The new sales tax for petrol is 25.42 percent, the lowest in the decade, the statement said. Although petrol and diesel prices had gone up several times during the tenure of the previous LDF Government, they had waived the sales tax only once, the statement added.
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