Centre should reduce tax on ATF to bring down airfares: Mamata Banerjee hits out at PM Modi

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed the Centre over airfares. She said that centre should reduce the tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) to bring down airfares.

Banerjee demanded that the centre should reduce customs duty, additional customs duty, and excise duty.

“Instead of pointing fingers at states, GOI should reduce its customs duty(@ 5%), addl customs duty(@ 11%) & excise duty (11%) on ATF to bring down air fares,” tweeted Mamata Banerjee.

Banerjee further stated that West Bengal Government has already exempted taxes on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) at Bagdogra and Andal airports. She said while the Bengal government have been proactively slashing their levies to bring down airfares, Centre is only preaching free sermons without practising them.

“We in GOWB have exempted taxes on ATF at Bagdogra and Andal airports, take only 1% on RCS Udan flights at Kolkata, 5% on small aircrafts and 12.5% for all airlines commecing ops since 2012-13,” wrote Banerjee.

“We have been proactive in slashing all our levies to bring down airfares, while GoI is preaching free sermons without practising them,” she tweeted.

All these remarks come after PM Modi on Wednesday urged the Chief Ministers of all the states to follow the Centre’s decision by reducing taxes on petrol and diesel to provide relief to the people from the price hike.