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| Green tax to be imposed on older vehicles soon, to clean up the environment by phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles, Photo Credit: Leonie Fahjen |
NEW DELHI (Lampe):- The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Sh. Nitin Gadkari has approved a proposal to levy a “Green Tax” on old vehicles which are polluting the environment. The proposal will now go to the states for consultation before it is formally notified. The main principles to be followed while levying the Green Tax are :
Transport vehicles older than 8 years could be charged Green Tax at the time of renewal of fitness certificate, at the rate of 10 to 25 % of road tax;
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% of Road Tax) for vehicles being registered in highly polluted cities
Differential tax, depending on fuel (petrol/diesel) and type of vehicle;
Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles, and alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG, etc to be exempted;
Vehicles used in farming, such as tractor, harvester, tiller, etc to be exempted;
Revenue collected from the Green Tax to be kept in a separate account and used for tackling pollution, and for States to set up state-of-art facilities for emission monitoring
The benefits of the “Green Tax” could be :
To dissuade people from using vehicles that damage the environment
To motivate people to switch to newer, less polluting vehicles
Green tax will reduce the pollution level, and make the polluter pay for pollution.
The Minister also approved the policy of deregistration and scrapping of vehicles owned by Government department and PSU, which are above 15 years in age. It is to be notified and will come into effect from 1st April 2022.
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