Tax Dead, Price Alive: The Great Fuel Illusion

The more the things change the more they remain the same

Above Alphonse Karr’s idea suggests that while things look different on the surface, the core reality stays the same.

We see this "magic trick" everywhere, from the tricky loopholes in a Demon King’s "immortality" boon to the latest excise cut on petrol and diesel which look better than they actually are.

In mythology, demon kings like Hiranyakashipu were masters of the "fine print."

They tricked the gods into granting them immortality through hyper-specific conditions, a clever belief that they could cheat death itself.

But God was found to be the ultimate corporate lawyer who found a loophole, like a half-man, half-lion appearing at the exact moment of twilight to settle the score.

Today’s fuel excise slash "boon" is a modern-day mythological masterpiece.

Thanks to the West Asian crisis, today, the common man stood before the altar of the Economy, parched and praying for a drop of relief.

The government appearing like God, announced Excise cuts on petrol and fuel, as if granting the Boon of the Special Additional Excise Duty(SAED) Slash.

The people cheered, imagining the numbers on the petrol pump rolling backward like a happy dream, while its supporting Propaganda machinery on social media hyping the magnanimous decision of the Supreme Leader.

But as they reached the petrol bunks , they noticed a strange phenomenon, the price on digital meters hadn't moved an inch.

You see, the "Boon" came with a "but."

Much like the demons who were immortal unless a specific set of impossible conditions were met, our excise cut is a "bitter pill" wrapped in honey coated leaf.

The government has indeed cut the SAED, the very surcharge they quietly piled on during the pandemic when oil was cheap.

The trick lay in the government's The government’s SAED strategy for the last six years, which treated falling global prices not as a gift for you, but as a "tithe" for the exchequer.

In 2020, as the pandemic hit and global crude prices crashed, the government raised excise duty by ₹3 per litre on both petrol and diesel.

While the world was in lockdown and oil was dirt cheap, they delivered the "big one": a record hike of ₹10 per litre on petrol and ₹13 per litre on diesel.

By mid-2020, taxes (Excise + VAT) made up nearly 260% of the base price of fuel.

This allowed excise collections to jump from ₹2.38 lakh crore to ₹3.84 lakh crore in just one year, a 67% increase while the country was at a standstill.

Most of this was added as SAED and Cess, which meant the revenue didn't have to be shared with the states nor any kind of benefits trickled down to the people.

As of March 27, 2026, people are being lured into the "loophole" in action.

The government is shown enacting a benevolent act by withdrawing those heavy SAED layers through the so-called excise slash moves.

With massive uncertainty in the Middle East and US-Iran tensions, global prices are up nearly 30-40% in the last month alone, Oil companies have been "absorbing" these high costs for months to prevent a public outcry.

This tax cut is effectively a government bailout for the companies to recover their losses, rather than a price cut to help your budget.

The tax (Excuse) is dead, long live the price!

The government gets the "showbazi" of a "massive cut," the OMCs get their recovery, and the consumer gets... the same old bill.

It’s the ultimate divine trick: a boon that makes the tax immortal, even while it claims to be dead.