NEW DELHI: The government has passed a plan to impose a 'green tax' on older vehicles. The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has approved a proposal to levy a 'green tax' on old vehicles which are polluting the environment. The statement on the same was released on Monday, January 25th.
Transport vehicles older than 8 years could be charged a tax of 10 to 25 per cent of road tax at the time of renewal of fitness certificate. The tax for personal vehicles would have to be paid at the time of mandatory renewal of registration certificate after 15 years.
The statement said, "Personal vehicles to be charged green tax at the time of renewal of registration certification after 15 years; public transport vehicles, such as city buses, to be charged lower green tax; higher green tax (50 per cent of road tax) for vehicles being registered in highly polluted cities."
The tax could be as high as 50 per cent of the road tax in cities with higher levels of air pollution like Delhi-NCR. The rate of tax for petrol and diesel vehicles could differ.
Diesel vehicles that are likely to cause more air pollution than petrol may attract a higher rate, as per the plan. At present, diesel vehicle older than 10 years are banned in Delhi-NCR as per a National Green Tribunal Ruling in 2015.
The government has put forward the tax as a means to discourage the use of old vehicles that lead to high levels of air pollution, and also to motivate the public to switch to newer, less polluting vehicles. The proposed plan will now be sent to all the states for discussion before a notification is formally issued.
The statement also mentioned that the revenue collected from the green tax will be kept in a separate account and used for tackling pollution, and it will also be used by the states to set up state-of-art facilities for emission monitoring.
"Green tax will reduce the pollution level, and make the polluter pay for pollution," it added.
According to the proposed tax plan, vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and vehicles which use alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol and LPG will be exempted.
Apart from these vehicles, vehicles used for farming purposes such as tractor, harvester and tiller will also be exempted from the tax, as per the statement.