About 53 per cent of the Rs 42.85 a litre selling price of petrol in Delhi is made up of central and state government taxes. For diesel, taxes and duties make up 31 per cent of the Rs 30.25 a litre price in Delhi.
The price of petrol without customs and excise duty and sales tax would have been been Rs 20.29 a litre while the price for diesel would have been Rs 21.01 a litre.
With such high incidence of taxation, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas, headed by N Janardhana Reddy, has demanded reduction in rates of duties and taxes on the two fuel.
"The government should go in for a comprehensive reform in the taxation on petrol products including the abolition of the ad valorem component in the taxes/duties,"
The committee found that even after the reduction of ad valorem component of excise duty on petrol and diesel from 8 to 6 per cent through the Union Budget 2007-08, the tax component in the retail selling price of petrol and diesel in Delhi was 53 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.
"Taxes and duties being levied on petroleum products are too steep which are resulting in higher retail prices of these products. More pinching is the ad valorem component in the excise duty which is putting additional burden on consumers," the report said.