Hike in lifetime tax on vehicles likely

The Transport Department has proposed to enhance the lifetime tax being collected on newly registered vehicles by 5 to 15 per cent depending on the category to mobilise additional funds for the government.

The department made this proposal at a meeting convened by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah here on Tuesday to review the revenue accruals to the exchequer as against the targets set for each revenue-earning departments. He found some departments lagging in achieving the set revenue targets. He, however, did not clear the Transport Departments’ plan on the ground that there is still scope to tone up the system and improve the accruals by plugging the leakages. The Commercial Taxes Department reportedly proposed collection of “annual lumpsum” amounts towards taxes due from the commercial establishments, dealers and traders instead of piecemeal taxes at the time of transaction as now.