Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh on Friday asked the chief ministers to bring down taxes on aviation turbine fuel in their states to lower the operating cost of the airlines.
“We have written to chief ministers several times on the issue. We have discussed the matter with them too but they are all worried about fiscal problems,” he said.
?Chhattisgarh did it earlier, Maharashtra CM has also publicly said he would do it,? he said on the sidelines of PanIIT Alumni meet in Kolkata. ATF sales tax at present ranges between 20-30%, while Chhattisgarh has lowered that to 4%. West Bengal charges 29% sales tax on ATF, it is 20% in New Delhi and 25% in Maharashtra. ?It [Chhattisgarh] was enjoying tremendous increase of air traffic after the revision,? he said.
Singh’s statement comes days after the civil aviation ministry and petroleum ministry reportedly decided to approach the finance ministry to notify ATF as a declared good. Once notified as declared good, ATF will attract a maximum of 4% sales tax across the states.
Earlier this year, the aviation ministry had tried to convince the states and push for a reduction in sales tax charged on ATF.
