Water, liquor and cigarettes to become costlier in Kerala

The News Minute | September 17, 2014 | 04:00 am ISTThe Kerala cabinet on Wednesday decided to double the prices of water. Prices of liquor and tobacco products too was decided to be increased.The cabinet has decided that those households which use more than 10,000 litres of water per month will be charged Rs. 6 per 1,000 litres instead of Rs. 4 that is being currently charged. The cabinet has decided that the excise duty on liquor will be increased by 20 percentage. The excise duty on liquor will now be 135 percentage. Also, a cess of 5 percentage has now been introduced. Excise duty on beer has been increased from 50 to 70 percentage. The cabinet has also decided to increase the tax on cigarettes by 8 percentage.The decision to hike prices comes in the wake of the financial crisis that the state is going through. The government says that through these hikes the state will earn a revenue of Rs. 1000 crore.