Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Issac has stepped in to plug loopholes in the collection of motor vehicle tax from various class of vehicles registered in the State and those registered in other States but plying in the State.
Amnesty scheme has also been announced in the 2018-19 Budget presented for the 1,500 luxury cars and 2,000 other cars registered in Puducherry allegedly using fake documents.
The government will avoid legal measures if the erring motorists pay the motor vehicle tax in the State by April 30. Vehicles of those who fail to pay the motor vehicle tax even after the deadline will be confiscated. Dr. Isaac said an additional income of ₹100 crore was expected from this. The annual tax for electric autorickshaws and those autos powered by LPG and CNG has been reduced from the present ₹500 to ₹450. New vehicles in this category need pay only ₹2,000 for five years as motor vehicle tax.
Motor Vehicle Rules will be amended to collect tax from non-transport vehicles registered in other States and plying here for more than one month. The vehicles will have to pay one-fifteenth of the one-time tax applicable in the tax and this will fetch ₹2 crore annually.
Dr. Isaac said the rules would be amended by the government to levy double the tax from the transport vehicles of other States entering Kerala without remitting tax. Steps would be taken using Vahan Sarathi software to avoid the hassles of changing the address for those vehicles coming here for registration with no-objection certificates.
In a bid to promote registration of e-rickshaws, he said six per cent of the cost of vehicle would be levied from those having more than four seats as motor vehicle tax for 15 years.
