Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Friday dared the Union government to explain why the common man was reeling under inflation when the income of the Union government was more than Rs 16 lakh crore only from Excise Duty Collection, in the last six years.
Responding to a question raised by the MP Chadha, the Union government revealed in parliament that the government has collected more than Rs 16 lakh crore from levy of excise duty on petroleum products since 2016.
The data revealed that in the full 2021-22 fiscal, excise duty by government from the petroleum sector was Rs 3.63 lakh crore, it was Rs 3.72 lakh crore in 2020-21, Rs 2.23 lakh crore in 2019-20, Rs 2.14 lakh crore in 2018-19, Rs 2.29 lakh crore in 2017-18 and the collection was Rs 2.42 lakh crore in 2016-17 financial year.
"In response to my question filed in Parliament, the Central Government has replied that in the last six years, the government has collected more than Rs 16 lakh crore of excise duty. Even after such a collection, why do the common people of the country still have to buy petrol worth Rs 100 and expensive milk-curd-atta?," Raghva Chadha said.
Chadha said that the common man continues to suffer the double blow of price rise & unemployment.
The Union government has disclosed that in the same six year period that it collected 16 lakh crores, excise duty on petrol and diesel was hiked 5 times.The government has collected Rs 16 lakh crore through high fuel prices and still the common man is forced to pay GST on food itemss. Raising questions over the intentions of the BJP government over poor utilisation of excise duty, he sought to know why the common man is not getting any benefit from such huge revenue collection.