In an apparent attempt to push its off-the-road economy back on track, the Punjab Government has decided to fill up its empty coffers by imposing one more tax on second hand vehicles from Monday.
With this, the State Government aimed at generating additional revenue of Rs50 crore every year.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led State Government has enhanced the tax on purchase of second hand vehicles by seven per cent. The decision was recently approved by the State Cabinet in its previous meeting.
The Government has imposed a “lump-sum” tax on the transfer of vehicles — a move deferred several times in the past due to one reason or another.
The tax would be charged as a fee to be imposed at the time of transfer of ownership rights of any vehicle registered in the state of Punjab. The same has been approved by the state Governor Shivraj Patil, and a notification dated October 11, 2013, has also been issued.
For every two-wheeler vehicle, Rshas been imposed as tax; while for transfer of every three-wheeler vehicle, Rs1,000 has been fixed as tax. For four-wheelers, tax amount has been fixed at Rs3,000, except tractors; for six-wheeler vehicles, it is Rs5,000; and for above six-wheel vehicles, the tax is Rs7,500.
“In case of transfer of ownership rights to a person after the death of the owner of the vehicle, no additional tax would be imposed,” an official from the state Excise and Taxation Department told The Pioneer.
The decision was taken under the under the Punjab Motor Vehicle Taxation Act, 1924, (Amended 2013), by the Cabinet approved to impose a lump sum tax on various motor vehicles at the time of transfer of ownership.
The money generated by the same would be used “to meet the expenditure incurred on the roads and connected infrastructure required for plying of motor vehicles on roads”.
Though the move was initiated several times in the past, but the tax could not be imposed owing to a clarification on the imposition of fees to be charged on different set of vehicles.
Tabled in December’s winter session the previous year, the Punjab Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2012, was withdrawn as the some SAD and BJP legislators expressed reservations over certain provisions in the Bill, while the opposition Congress boycotted the House proceedings.
The Punjab Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2012, was aimed at increasing the rate of motor vehicles tax on transfer of all types of motor vehicles. The Bill also proposed to discourage tourist sleeper coach buses to ply illegally in Punjab, and to provide tax collection centers to the owner of tourist vehicles of other states while entering in the state.
The MlAs then pointed out that the tax charged on the transfer of vehicles must be based on certain parameters in percentage including cost of the vehicle, its current value, its age, among other things. It was also opined that the fees should not be same for all types of four wheelers, whether it costs Rs 20 lakh or Rs2 lakh.
The amended Bill will be tabled in the Assembly session, starting from October 28.