T.N. Assembly | Vehicles to cost more, as Bill adopted to increase rate of life tax

The cost of new and old two-wheelers, four-wheelers, good carriages and other vehicles is set to increase, as the Tamil Nadu government has decided to hike the rate of life tax of these vehicles, after a decade.

A Bill amending the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1974 to this effect, was adopted by the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, October 11, 2023.

According to the legislation, the rate of life tax for a new motorcycle would be 12%, if its total cost exceeds ₹1 lakh and 10%, if its total cost does not exceed ₹1 lakh.

In case of new cars and other new motor vehicles, the rate of life tax would be 20% if the cost of the vehicle exceeds ₹20 lakh. For new cars and other new motor vehicles whose costs are between ₹10 lakh and ₹20 lakh, the rate of life tax would be 18% and for vehicles costing between ₹5 lakh and ₹10 lakh, it would be 13%. In case of vehicles costing below ₹5 lakh, the rate of life tax would be 12%.

Used/second-hand vehicles

The Bill, tabled by Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar, also provided for different rates of life tax for old two-wheelers and other vehicles depending on how many years old they are. It also provides revised rates of life tax for tourist motor cabs and construction equipment vehicles, among others.

The Bill also specified a green tax of ₹1,500 for five years for motor vehicles (other than transport vehicles) that have completed 15 years from the date of their registration. For motorcycles that have completed 15 years since their registration, the green tax would be ₹750 for five years.

For transport vehicles which have completed seven years from registration, the green tax would be ₹750 per annum. For autorickshaws, the green tax would be ₹250 per annum.

Pointing out that the government has not enhanced the taxes since 2012, the legislation read: “The receipts from the taxes on vehicles are low resulting in less revenue to the government and in order to augment the financial resources of the State exchequer, the government has decided to amend the Act suitably”.

While one of the DMK’s allies, the Congress, opposed the Bill, its other allies CPI(M), VCK and legislator T. Velmurugan raised other concerns relating to the Bill. The PMK’s G.K. Mani also raised some concerns over the Bill.