Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan took a dig at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday for allegedly “exhorting" states to cut their share of taxes on petrol and diesel. Thiagarajan said that his state is not in need of getting "dictation from people who perform worse than us".
"We have one of the best statistical outcomes of any government in India. We brought the revenue deficit down from ₹ 60,000 something to close to ₹ 40,000 something crores. Our fiscal deficit is half that of the Union Government. Our per capita income is twice that of the national average. Our inflation is only 5 percent when the national inflation is 8 percent. We know what we are doing. We don't need anybody to tell us what to do. We don't need dictation from people who perform worse than us. We don't like other people extra-constitutionally, authoritarian forces us to do things we don't want to do," Mr. Thiagarajan said.
"I don't recall them using anywhere the word 'request'. They gave demands and then I think the Union Finance Minister used the word 'exhort'. I don't think the constitution allows any of this to happen. The constitution allows states to manage their own finances to whatever extent we have left," he said.
The minister further added, "When the Union Government raised excise and that too shifted it from pure excise to cess and surcharge, three times on petrol and 10 times on diesel, they did not even consult the states. They cut the share given to us. At that time, they had no compassion, no consideration. They have had a bad tax policy for seven-eight years, now that the chickens are coming home to roost, they are making fake villains out of us. This is atrocious. This is shameless hypocrisy."
Commenting on the rise and fall in fuel prices, Thiagarajan said, "It went up from ₹ 9.4 to ₹ 32.5, they cut ₹ 5 once and ₹ 8 once. You take away ₹ 13, that's still ₹ 19. That's still double the rate that was being taxed when this government came to power. Let's take diesel. It was ₹ 3.4 or something, they took it up to ₹ 32, they cut it by ₹ 10 and another ₹ 8 or 6 whatever they've cut. So, they are still four or five times where they were."
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