Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said that the onus to reduce fuel prices is with the Central government and the states are not expected to cut fuel taxes.

Addressing reporters at the party`s Tamil Nadu headquarters, Satyamoorthy Bhavan, Tharoor said that Tamil Nadu Finance Minister PTR Thiagarajan had informed him that the Central government is levying a cess on fuel prices and that 96 per cent of the cess collected is retained by the Centre. "Cess is a very divisive idea as it is not divisible or shared with the states. When the Centre keeps 96 per cent of the cess by itself, then the onus is on it to reduce the taxes on fuel and bring down prices, and not on the state governments," he said.