At least 13,500 people across India have signed an online petition launched by a Bengalurean, demanding an uniform road tax throughout the country.
Of the 13,500 signatures the petition garnered in 40 hours since it was launched, 2,000 were from Karnataka.
Waseem Memon, a Bengaluru resident, who initiated the ‘Drive without borders: one nation – one road tax’ campaign, had two objectives in mind — ensuring that vehicle owners moving from one State to another are not harassed to pay taxes again after they relocate; and to enable owners to get refund of the vehicle’s lifetime tax easily from a Central agency.
According to the petitioners, amendments to the State’s law by State governments for collecting road taxes are against the freedom of movement guaranteed to citizens.
The petition (https://www.facebook.com/ groups/154826927209780 3/) said following the amendment of the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Act, 2014 in February, any vehicle plying continuously in Karnataka for more than 30 days has to pay lifetime tax levied by the State government.
The Central Motor Vehicle Rules states that any motor vehicle plying continuously in another State should be registered within 11 months.
