The Maharashtra government has decided to abolish the Local Body Tax (LBT) within 15 days on petrol and diesel with an aim to end the disparity between fuel dealers and other traders. However, an alternate tax will be imposed by the government in place of LBT.
Now aligning with the process of abolishing the LBT, State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the fuel dealers are ready to accept the imposition of an alternate tax in lieu of that.
Background:
The fuel dealers’ primary disagreement is that those whose pumps are within the jurisdiction of any of the 25 Municipal Corporations in the state are required to pay the LBT while others are not. So all they want is parity between all pump owners. The decision came after discussions were held between the state government and respective petrol/diesel pump owners over its imposition.
Significance:
The state government has already exempted traders having an annual turnover below Rs 50 crore from paying LBT across the state from 1st August. According to the government, more than 99 per cent of traders benefited from this decision. However, petrol and diesel retailers were not considered for LBT exemption till now. There are around 800 petrol and diesel pumps within 25 municipal corporations in the state and abolishing LBT will cost the government exchequer approximately 280 crore rupees.