KATHMANDU, August 24: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has contributed Rs 97 billion in revenue to the government. While buying fuel from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and selling it in the domestic market, the NOC provided revenue to the government under various headings.
The government has collected a total revenue of Rs 97.20 billion from the NOC under various headings such as customs duty, road maintenance tax, income tax, infrastructure tax, pollution fee and value added tax.
In the last fiscal year 2020/2021, as the NOC imported goods such as cooking gas, aviation fuel, diesel, petrol, kerosene etc and sold them in the domestic market, it contributed the afore-mentioned amount of revenue. NOC is the biggest contributor to the government’s total revenue.
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The government had collected a total revenue of Rs 938.32 billion last year. Fuel alone contributes 10.35 percent to the government's annual revenue collection.
The NOC contributed about Rs 30 billion more in revenue in the last fiscal year than in the previous FY 2019/2020. In the previous fiscal year, NOC contributed a total revenue of Rs 66.88 billion to the government. Similarly, in the last fiscal year, customs duty of Rs 36.77 billion, road maintenance fee of Rs 5.74 billion, pollution fee of Rs 3.42 billion, infrastructure tax of Rs 22.81 billion, income tax of Rs 1.25 billion and value added tax (VAT) of Rs 27.19 billion were collected.
However, the government has been criticized for taxing petroleum products under various headings. Customs duty, income tax and value added tax are mandatory. But experts believe that the corporation has been taking huge amounts as infrastructure tax. As the government has made petroleum products their main source of revenue collection, consumers are bearing a huge financial burden.
The government has been levying a custom duty of Rs 25.20 per liter on petrol and Rs 20 per liter on diesel and kerosene. In the fiscal year 2016/17, the government levied infrastructure tax of Rs 5 per liter on diesel and petrol for the construction of the Budhigandaki Hydropower Project. At present, the infrastructure tax has been increased to Rs 10 per liter. Similarly, the road maintenance fee is Rs 4 per liter, pollution charge is Rs 2.50 per liter, price stabilization fund is Rs 1.10 per liter and VAT is 13 percent.
