Telangana State thumbs up to Centre’s tax idea

​Hyderabad: If everything falls in place, soon there will be unified road/life tax on vehicles in the country.

According to Transport Department officials, the Union Transport Ministry is actively considering the proposal of introducing single road and life tax for the entire country.

Sources said this proposal was supported by all Transport Ministers of southern States at a recent meeting held in Tiruvananthapuram and a resolution to the effect was sent to the Centre. The Telangana government, the sources said, would support any such move.

Officials said the entire process of payment of road tax whenever a vehicle is transferred to other States was strenuous and it was not benefitting the Transport departments either.

Road/life tax is a tax, which is paid by the vehicle owner during purchase of the vehicle. If the vehicle is transferred to other State, the vehicle owner has to pay the road tax as per the norms in the State in which the owner migrates and later, he can claim the tax paid in his home State.

The State governments are also of the opinion that there should be seamless transfer of registration of vehicles which are of more than two years old in case the owner relocates to other States.

As per rule, any vehicle, which is registered in one State and runs in another State for more than 30 days, should have to pay the road tax of that particular State. Vehicle owners, however, say that this is harsh as they often travel to other States for businesses.

In a recent order, the Karnataka High Court directed the State government not to seize vehicles of other States till it gives final order with regard to road tax.

A businessman G Gopal Reddy from Nellore, who was travelling to Bangalore, was asked to pay Rs 1.69 lakh as road tax in Karnataka in September.

Gopal Reddy approached the High Court stating that he had purchased the car in 2007 paying Rs 1.51 lakh as road tax in Andhra Pradesh and he frequently travelled to Karnataka as part of his business.

The court observed that this rule was causing hardship and inconvenience to the public at large and it was against the freedom of movement.

And, once the life tax is collected in any part of the country, it holds good throughout the territory of India, according to the court.

Transport Commissioner Sandeep Kumar Sultania said the life tax rule was relevant a few years ago when there was no idea about vehicles of other States but now there was a databank of all vehicles in the country.

“The department is getting nothing with this exercise as it is only adding work load on the staff and causing inconvenience to the people in general.

We will support any move by the Centre on one tax system in the country,” said Sultania.