GUWAHATI, April 22 - Citing that the royalties paid by the oil companies will go down by more than half due to the record slump in crude oil prices, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said the hike in oil taxes imposed by the State government was a �temporary measure� to cover up some revenue loss.
�The pain has to be borne by everyone. In any case, people are staying indoors and it will not impact the common man much,� Sarma said when asked about yesterday�s decision to hike the fuel taxes by more than Rs 5 in the State.
He indicated that the hike could be rolled back once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
�Once corona is over, we will review the decision again,� he said.
�We are fearing if international prices go down drastically, we lose immensely in oil royalty as it is linked to the global prices. But increasing the tax, we are trying to protect our revenue,� Sarma said.
The State used to get a royalty of Rs 166 crore from the oil companies every month.
According to the Finance Minister, yesterday�s hike will give the government Rs 50 crore in about a month�s time.
Following yesterday�s tax hike, the price of petrol in the State increased from Rs 71.61 to Rs 77.46 per litre, while diesel jumped from Rs 65.07 to Rs 70.50 per litre.
