Excise on tobacco products to be shared with states, says FM

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the govt had not proposed to levy a new cess but was levying excise on tobacco products. “This is not a new law, this is not an additional tax or something that the Centre is taking away. Many MPs here observed that this is a cess. This is not a cess, this is excise duty. Excise duty existed before GST. The amount will be redistributed to the states as per the Finance Commission's recommendations,” she told Lok Sabha while responding to the discussion on the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill. The bill was passed by the lower House by voice vote. “In order to ensure that the incidence is not lower than what it was during GST with the compensation cess, we are bringing this excise. In a way, we are saying cigarettes shou