Gujarat, the exception.

"India...raised windfall tax on domestic crude to Rs 10,200 per tonne from Rs 9,500 per tonne. It slashed special additional excise duty on export of diesel to Rs 10.50 per liter from Rs 13 per liter." ET. "The fortnightly revision in tax rates is based on prevailing international prices." The benchmark Brent crude has fallen to $87.62 per barrel, oilprice.com, from $122.71 per barrel in June 2022, countryeconomy.com. This should mean that windfall profits, if any, of oil companies have fallen substantially and yet the tax rate has gone up, though still lower than in July. Puzzling. "On July 1, the government had announced a windfall tax on upstream oil production of Rs 23,250 per tonne," which was reduced to Rs 17,000 per tonne on 20 July. rediff.com. Petroleum products from special economic zones (SEZs) were exempt from the tax. "According to analysts this move provided significant relief to Reliance Industries (RIL), 55 percent of whose refining production comes from its two refineries located in SEZs at Jamnagar in Gujarat, from where the majority of products are exported." ONGC also apparently benefited. "Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) reported 30 percent fall in net profit for September quarter after the government levied windfall tax to take away gains arising from spurt in international oil and gas prices." NDTV. Oil producing companies are raking in profits. Shell earned $20 billion in 6 months, BP earned $16.6 billion while Total earned $29 billion over the same period. BT. Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt plans to raise $16.5 billion next year from windfall taxes on oil and gas companies and every European government has similar plans. However, critics say that "Lower profits could discourage suppliers from producing more energy, while lower prices will encourage consumers to use more." No chances of excess use in India. The price of petrol in Delhi remains constant at Rs 96.72 per liter. NDTV. This is done by changing taxes on fuel. Excise duty on petrol was Rs 9.2 per liter in November 2014, rose to Rs 32.98 per liter in June 2020, as international price of crude fell, and was Rs 19.98 per liter in May 2022. mycarhelpline.com. In May 2022, taxes constituted 36.7% of the retail price of petrol. The average price of petrol in the US on 14 November 2022 was about $4 per barrel, eia.com, which converts to around Rs 85.8 per liter, at Rs 81.52 to one dollar. Petrol is taxed at 20% in the US. Since transport is an essential cost of manufacturing and services, higher taxes add to prices. No wonder, India's merchandise exports declined 16.7% year-on-year in October to $29.8 billion, lowest since March 2021. Imports grew by 5.7% to $56.7 billion, so that the trade deficit increased to $26.9 billion in October from $25.7 billion in September. FE. So far 68.5 million people, out of a total population of 1,412 million (worldometer), have filed income tax returns for the financial year 2021-22. NDTV. Over Rs 2 trillion have been refunded. Taxes are exorbitant in India, reasonable in the US. The US is the richest country, India is poor. Is there a connection?