The revenue committee of the AMC has decided to up the vehicle tax for cars and other wheels that cost Rs15 lakh and more.Vehicles that cost over Rs15 lakh will have to cough up anywhere between 3.5% to 5% as vehicle tax.Earlier the vehicles were taxed at 3%. The new tax will come into force from October 1 onwards.The revenue committee has argued that the hike in tax is aimed at those vehicles that either use a lot of fuel or are highly polluting.Vehicle tax for three-wheelers, rickshaws and others has not been increased.The Rs15 lakh price tag would mean most of the luxury SUVs will now be covered by the higher tax.Once implemented, the hike in tax will make the AMC richer by Rs10 crore. It should be noted that the proposal has been accepted by the revenue committee and it will now be put before the standing committee and later will have to be approved by the state.Vehicles that cost over Rs25 lakh and less than Rs50 lakh will have to pay a tax anywhere between 3% to 4% while those over Rs50 lakh will have to pay tax up to 5% as tax.Electric vehicles have meanwhile been given an exemption from the vehicle tax.The city sells over 1200 vehicles that cost over Rs15 lakh and over 500 vehicles that cost over Rs50 lakh every year.The city sees less than 100 electric vehicles being sold every year.Thanks to the lack of charging infrastructure, electric vehicles, that are less polluting, cost a lot. To encourage more people to buy electric vehicles the AMC has announced an exemption from vehicle tax for such vehicles.The incentive is likely to help bring down the price of vehicles.
