Assembly okays Motor Vehicle Bill
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 25 2011:
Manipur Legislative Assembly today passed the Motor Vehicle Taxation Amendment Bill 2011 which on becoming an Act is expected to fetch an annual revenue of Rs 12 crores to the State exchequer.
The Bill seeks to levy 'green tax' on vehicles that have passed the standard operational limit and is considered a pollutant.
The income thus generated will be used in pollution control measures.
Presenting the Bill for consent of the House, chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, who is also Leader of the House explained that tax collected from old vehicles would be utilised to replenish the gradually disappearing green cover of the State in general and the capital city in particular.
He also expressed that apart from collection of revenue, the Bill would streamline vehicular movement.
further stating that in European countries and advanced nations such as Japan, tax levied on vehicles is double the actual cost of the vehicle in order to keep number of private vehicles under control, the CM said 40,000 new vehicles were added to the streets of Manipur in between March 31, 2010 and March this year.
However, vehicle tax collection in the State is less than that of Tripura as most of the vehicles registered in Manipur falls in the light motor vehicle class whereas Tripura has more heavy vehicles such as trucks, he explained.
Ruling out hiking tax amount of passenger carriers (buses), the CM also mentioned that the tax amount would commensurate with the value of the vehicle.
For a vehicle in the range of Rs 3 lakh the tax amount would be calculated at the rate of 3 percent with 4 PC tax to be levied against vehicle worth Rs 6 lakh whereas it would be 5 pc for vehicle purchased at Rs 10 lakhs, O Ibobi detailed.
Endorsing the Bill proposal, senior opposition member O Joy Singh stressed on the need to intensify the tax collection drive and drew the attention of the Government to ensure smooth implementation of the Bill.