Speaker tells govt to apprise House about infrastructure tax raise

KATHMANDU, March 2: Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Agni Prasad Sapkota has asked the government to apprise the House about the recent increase in infrastructure development tax imposed on petroleum products.

The government of Friday decided to raise the infrastructure tax on petroleum products by Rs 5 per liter, making the tax total to Rs 10 per liter. The government has been collecting Rs 5 per liter since the fiscal year 2017/18 to finance the Budigandaki Project.

Socialist Party lawmaker Sarita Giri, during a meeting of the HoR on Monday, urged the government to immediately withdraw its recent decision to impose additional tax on petroleum products.

“The right to revise the criteria of tax is vested in the sovereign parliament worldwide, but in Nepal, the right is exercised by the Council of Ministers,” she said while drawing the attention of the parliament and the government towards that end.

“Consumers have been badly affected due to imposition of petroleum tax by the government and the Nepal Oil Corporation separately,” she added.

“Citizens of Nepal face 85 percent tax burden which is nowhere in the world,” she furthered. RSS