TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Transport Department has brushed off moves from the Centre to abolish entry tax on the grounds that it is not levying the tax on highways. It argued that it refunds the tax collected if any vehicle exits the State within four hours.
In a Transport Development Council meeting in New Delhi earlier this week, the Central Ministry for Surface and Road Transport had taken up the issue of additional taxes levied on trucks and passenger vehicles registered in other States in the name of entry tax by seven States in the country, insisting that it should be abolished.
Goa is one of the seven States along with Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, and West Bengal which have imposed entry tax.
“A committee will deliberate on this issue again,” transport minister Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavalikar said while briefing Herald on the deliberations held between Goa and the Centre on this issue.
Dhavalikar said that the Centre was of the opinion that there should be no tax on highways pointing out that in Goa the levy of entry tax was in no way linked to highways.
Likewise a committee is also constituted to take up the matter with every State on introduction of a National Permit System for passenger buses/ tourist buses at par with the NPS for trucks.
It is learnt that states objected to this proposal and the Centre has proposed to pursue the matter through a committee.
There was, however, a consensus on levy of floor rate for Sales Tax registration of 6 per cent on cars, Light Motor Vehicles and two-wheelers. The MoSRT has however given State transport ministry the discretion to increase the tax by maintaining the minimum floor rate of 6 per cent. This according to sources has been done to prevent clandestine registration of vehicles in States where the tax is even as low as 1 per cent such as Haryana. In Goa the sales tax for registration of new vehicles is around 8 per cent, Dhavalikar said.
The Central ministry for Surface and Road Transport has also managed to get a consensus from all States for imposition of a uniform tax for maxi-cabs (7 seater) and tourist taxis (upto 6 seater) which will also be fixed at 6 per cent.
Additionally, the Centre has also mooted the introduction of weigh bridges in a bid to apply the brakes on overloading of trucks.
