[DevilzzzzOwn]

Sadly, this is the reality.... Deal with it. We all (Majority {in the educated sector}) agreed to changes when we signed up for this Govt. If you, like me, have a problem, vote otherwise.

However, remember, these are unprecedented times as well. These are the times when the govt needs all the revenue it needs to make sure to stay in power for another 70 years!! For the betterment of the people of course....

Obviously, I don't like it when someone takes nearly 78% of what I earn.

But again....thieves against thieves. Whom are you gonna choose? I am not gonna request this thread to be politically incorrect and all, but this demands attention!!

Per the latest reports, the Crude oil are going to take a hit manifold next week as well.

Investment advise, do I continue to ride this wave this till tomorrow and dump it or is there any hope left for the Hybs?

[ramzsys]

My daily running is 60-70 km per day. With the 2 wheeler it's about 1.3 per km(vs 1 earlier), thanks to a very fuel efficient honda engine.

20 days it would be in the bike, 10 days the car(5 per km vs 4 earlier). So per month fuel expenses would be 5500 approx. Totally no outstation trips this year; just covered 2k kms after the last service in march, vs the usual 8k.

Thus a 1400 rupee increase per month by additional taxation, but by not driving 6k km on pleasure trips, saved about 2.5k a month.

Diesel consumption expenses in farms for rental tractors have gone up a bit, ploughing is 800 per hour (vs 700) but it's twice a year event totalling 150 hours, so a 15k increase theoretically. I would do away with the second ploughing and go with brush cutting to cut costs.

FMCG/groceries, haven't felt the pinch much. Shallot prices spiked after rains and now it's back to normal. Some product prices have gone up, like parle-g. Many have reduced their nett weight. Getting less for what i pay, but hey, covid isn't it.

Now comes the rant: what i am annoyed, is with government's meaningless expenditure on new buildings and stuff instead of focussing on elimination of corruption.

The state government is no saint either. Taking up beautifying the Coimbatore city projects while it's all a third world mess on most city roads after a moderate 20 mm rains.

7th pay commission fattening their bank balances and still a lot of officers blatantly corrupt. 'Tough times, kindly adjust' is all fine but why aren't the govt employees forced to take a pay cut, because covid?

[whitecloud]

The government has been going the easiest way of collecting taxes which is by taxing the petroleum products to the hilt. Basically it is nearly 100% central and state taxes on the international prices + other marketing expenses of diesel and petrol.

Adding to this, there is another issue of non transparent pricing system of the fuels where during the elections, prices are not increased so as to help the ruling party in the central govt to increase the vote share.

Has anyone noted the kind of abysmally low passenger fares for the second class seats of the Indian railways? It might cost just Rs. 50 to travel 300 km in the unreserved second class seat in train.

The concept of vote bank politics has reached to an extreme level where the ruling dispensation will not do anything financially prudent and which is likely to disturb its vote bank mathematics or its perception amongst the general public. No political party would like to be counted as anti poor. As far as middle class and rich class are concerned, their votes seem to be guaranteed for the central govt ruling party as of now. Hence, why reduce taxes on fuels when no one is complaining nor is it being debated in media and social media & also when the next elections are a likely comfortable win.

If the government is fair, it is expected to reduce the taxes on fuels, but because of the fiscal deficit and committed expenditures, it will not do so. How can we expect that the govt is serious in promoting electric vehicles when there are very less taxes on such vehicles and nearly zero tax on electricity? Certainly not at the cost of its vote bank .

[Subby]

In this context "kitna deti hai" becomes more important than "kitna strong hai". Thats why, it is not a surprise that Maruti rules the roost in sales.

For average Joe, cost per km is an important consideration on purchasing decision of new vehicle, in an scenario of ever-increasing cost of fuel.

There is no point in grunting where we cannot influence/change the external factors. We need to adopt to external environment . Reduce consumption, shun fuel guzzling SUVs; use shared vehicle, pool car and for local travel, use bycycle. Added benefit, you may save the cost of gym.

No offence to anyone, but it's pathetic to see an individual weighing 70 kgs, is travelling solo to his/her office daily in a 2 ton SUV. Yes, one can afford, but then, earth's resources are limited.

Irrespective of whosever in seat, Govt's inefficiency in rational distribution of resources across the population always hurts. I also acknowledge sheer waste of tax payer's money on irrevalent Govt activities.

But, for common good, high price of fuel may act as detterent on wastage and encourage judicious use, particularly when our country is dependent on import. Use of Electric vehicles is not a part of solution unless that electricity is generated from renewable sources.

Consumption of petrol is still considered as luxury in India, we cannot get away with it.

[shortbread]

Time for the mango man to get electrified!

[avishar]

Meanwhile IOC is running at 100% capacity.

India's top oil refiner back at full capacity for first time since COVID-19

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, operated of its 9 plants in November at 100% capacity for the first time since February, to meet rising local fuel demand, it said in a statement on Thursday.

IOC previously operated its directly-owned plants at full capacity ahead of a nationwide lockdown enforced from late March to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

India's fuel demand has been recovering from the lows seen in April with a gradual pick up in the industrial and economic activity after the lockdown was eased.

Along with its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp, IOC controls about a third of the 5 million barrels per day refining capacity in India, where fuel demand in October rose by 2.5%, its first year-on-year rise in eight months.

[discoverwild]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

The state government is no saint either. Taking up beautifying the Coimbatore city projects while it's all a third world mess on most city roads after a moderate 20 mm rains.

They have already started digging up the only remaining arterial road and lifeline (Avinashi Road) for another meaningless flyover, while all the other roads are dug up and in various stages of disarray. Trichy Road, which I use every day is a nightmare sometimes. And rain just adds to the slush everywhere especially around Singanallur signal.

The cost of "development" is a hefty price to pay.

[Venkatesh]

Global oil demand is rebounding again.

Gasoline and diesel consumption is already strong in China, India, Japan and Brazil. After wobbling in November, demand for gasoline and diesel is accelerating again.

The pick up in demand, together with fresh inflows of hot money into commodities, helped to push Brent crude, the global benchmark, above $50 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since March.

Demand for gasoline is at or near pre-Covid levels in China, India and Japan, respectively the world’s second-, third- and fourth-largest oil consumers.

We see a rapid V-shaped recovery in the overall consumption of Petroleum, said Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, chairman of state run Indian Oil Corp

Source

[rajendra2278]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

By applying the same taxes to electricity in the the future!

Or, by charging exorbitant prices for EV recharge stations.

[landcruiser123]

This is crazy. Guess this government is hell-bent on increasing consumption taxes to fill up their coffers.

I just hope they offer better public transit to Indians.

Originally Posted by bj96

Does anyone feel like me here? I am actually happy. Both income tax payers (like me) and non income tax payers like so called farmers, politicians and businessmen need to buy in the same market. So pay the same price for petrol/diesel. Let govt increase it more so that latter also (forced to) pay more taxes...however, govt ought to stop double taxing IT payers like us :-(

Edit- I can control my petrol expense e.g. by reducing unnecessary errands and trips, however cannot increase my income by evading TDS. The real cost of one litre petrol is 90/- to a "so called" farmer while it is 90/.67 = 134/- for me!

Sorry, wrong assumption there. A sustained increase in petroleum price will slowly creep into everything you consume - from the pulses you eat to the bar of soap you use. Everything is transported by diesel trucks.

Groceries and FMCG might see a marginal increase in price. Might not hurt you much to spend 50 bucks/month more for groceries, but will certainly hurt poorer people like your maid.

[bj96]

Originally Posted by Rambo-RS

... It is just like saying, "I am happy being robbed the second time, at least...

There is a difference. Everyone else is robbed at least once (indirect taxes), why should I be robbed twice ( with +direct taxes). Getting robbed is not ideal- agree but, I just want to a less painful experience :-)

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

... Guess this government is hell-bent on increasing consumption taxes to fill up their coffers...
Sorry, wrong assumption there...

I know indirect taxes hurt lower strata more. However, by paying income tax (direct taxes) extra what better service or infrastructure I get in return from Govt? So, let everyone pay the indirect taxes (there will be less evasion) and not expectation in return.

What I am peeved at is a reality that out of 12 months that I slog for 12 hours daily (not to forget the incidental ailments like BP, sugar, cholesterol etc etc that it brings) in a year, I get money only for 8 months in my pocket. Rest four months salary is taken away by govt (as IT). What does govt gives me extra in return over the guy who doesn't pay IT? Nothing. Zilch. In fact honest Income tax payers are squeezed endlessly...


-BJ

[srini1785]

Wild idea : Do you think that there should a cap on the indirect taxes that we pay?.

Tax is cut at source. While income remains fixed, we pay indirect taxes on fuel, purchases , etc. Wouldn't it not make sense for GOI to provide some tax rebate on direct taxes we pay , if we have paid enough indirect taxes on other purchases.

Yeah, wish full thought.

[stanjohn123]

I made a video on how fuel price have been increasing over the years due to taxes and how this will breach 100 Rs/ Ltr because the government has a lot of extravagant expenditure on the line to please the masses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHaoc793cxw

If you are huge supporter of this governments initiatives and taxing structure, kindly do not watch my video as it gets political in it.

The common people still think, fuel prices are rising due to increasing crude oil prices as fuel is deregulated in India, but this is not true as you can see in the chart below



Secondly we need to understand how much portion of the fuel we pay is taxed, it's a whopping 64% in case of petrol and 59% in case of Diesel.





Also whats more dastardly , is the amount of tax they increased over the years. This can be seen in the chart below. They increased the Excise duty on Petrol by a whopping 258% and on Diesel by 820% since 2014.



We are officially undergoing a recession, but that is not going to deter this government from cutting its wasteful expenditure, why ? Because, they know they can always get that money by taxing us more and we as a minority can not question nor stop them.

Brace for worse days ahead or look for alternate solutions to save on fuel tax.

[Venkatesh]

Petrol hits all time high of Rs 91.56 a litre in India, diesel too at a record Rs 81.87 a litre in Mumbai.



Link

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

......, last i checked only approximate 1.6% of our countrymen paid income taxes! Where do you think the revenue is flowing in for the govt, ......

Did it fall to 1.6 % IT payers just after 2014? The per cent of IT payers has been same before, too. How was it that when crude was roughly at 157 USD a barrel in 2013, we were getting petrol at 76 rupees (in my city) and gas cylinder at 338 rupees ? And, by 2017 crude fell to just 28 USD a barrel. If you do the math, petrol should have been sold at Rs.38 or something and gas cylinder at may be Rs.115 or so. Now, on the contrary, where do the prices stand? The prices are at much higher than 2013 level. Imagine what a huge amount the govt has netted. And, there is still no sign of stopping. Please don't turn this thing into a Congress vs. BJP debate. I'm not rooting for or putting down any party. Just submitting factual numbers which no one can deny.