The AP government who is well aware of the economical situation of the state people and the situations has burdened the common man by hiking the Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel prices.
The YSRCP government led by Jagan Mohan Reddy hiked VAT on petrol prices by Rs 1.24 per liter and Rs 0.93 per liter on diesel prices. There is no bad time to do this as the hike of the VAT on fuel came when the common man is already grappling with low income in this COVID-19 pandemic.
Lakhs of people were unemployed within a span of 4 months. Now, the Revenue Chief secretary Bhargav attributed the hike in VAT on fuel prices to dwindling revenues following the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown.
He explained that in April, last year, the government could mop up Rs 4,480 crore. But, unfortunately, due to this lockdown, the revenue sharply declined by 29.5 percent to Rs 1,323 crore. So, it is an unavoidable situation for them and they have decided to hike the VAT in order to shore up the revenues, Rajat Bhargav stated.