They're running out of money with many programs that don't work, so they're taxing the commoners so corrupt politicians can steal the funds.
When you have the population density and city pollution levels they have in big Indian cities, I don't blame them for trying to discourage the use of petrol. Even if you don't believe in climate change, there's real haze over many of their cities which has well documented effects on respiratory health.
I see people here saying poor saying poor people don't have cars or it's for climate change. Increase in oil prices have affected public transportation and mainly cost of goods by 30-40% because of transportation cost and poor people are getting hurt :(
I think inflation has increased across the board since the pandemic. Countries all over have pumped in unprecedented amount of money into their economies so this was bound to happen. Governments seem to be downplaying the numbers to some extent but people are starting to feel the real impact. I wonder if such cash injections into the economy are useful even and if they create a net good in the long run?
I think the biggest issue is that the income tax base in India is very small. India has 4x the population of US but individual taxpayers are 1/15 of the US. Most of the people do not pay taxes and the government has to make up the lost revenue somehow - petrol and diesel are the only taxes that can target large swaths of the population.<p>A majority of the Indian population is still in agriculture and agricultural income is not taxed.<p>Also small stores that deal in cash also avoid taxes.<p>Another thing about India is that every election is won by politicians guaranteeing free stuff for the masses - but that money for the free stuff has to come from somewhere - and that is why they need to tax fuel.