No education cess of Rs 2 on petrol, diesel: Govt

New Delhi, Mar 11: The government today said it is not collecting education cess of Rs two per litre from petrol and diesel, but two per cent of this cess is levied on excise and customs duty payable on these fuels.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said commodity-wise education cess is not compiled but a total education cess at the rate of two per cent was collected from customs and central excise duties on all commodities during 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07. Collection of education cess, which is part of indirect taxes, increased to Rs 1630 crores in 2006-07 from Rs 735 crores in 2004-05.

The central excise collection increased to Rs 2286 crores in 2006-07 from Rs 1451 crores in 2004-05, the Minister said.

The allocation to Department of School Education and Literacy towards mid-day meal and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are inclusive of the amounts collected from education cess.

The cess amount collected for Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh (PSK) was started from 2006-07 onwards.

UNI