THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a relief to the motor cabs and tourist taxi owners of the state, the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) has issued an order allowing taxi owners, who have paid the five years’ tax, to pay their balance 10 years’ road tax in three installments.
The taxi owners were in distress as earlier they need to pay in advance the tax for 15 years to get the taxi permit.According to the High Court’s interim order in April, they were allowed to pay first tax for five year and then pay the 10-year-tax in one installment. As per the new order of dated October 29, vehicles which have been registered after April 2014 can now pay the balance 10 years’ tax in three installments. The first installment has to be paid by November 30, and the second and third installment should be paid by Jan 30, and March 30, 2019.
The rate of tax goes up as the price of vehicles increases.According to the statement issued by the MVD, the additional tax amount will be 50 percent of two years tax amount, which is equivalent to one year’s tax and the interest will be about 15 percent of the total 10 years tax amount. The MVD will cancel the permit and will also initiate revenue recovery proceedings against those vehicle owners who will fail to pay the whole amount or the first installment before November 30.