VIJAYAWADA: In a bid to rake in additional revenue of Rs 200 crore, the State government is likely to enhance quarterly tax on transport vehicles like taxis, trucks and buses, official sources said. It has been learnt that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy approved the proposal to hike quarterly tax on transport vehicles during a meeting held to discuss mobilisation of additional revenue to the State exchequer.
According to sources, officials of the transport department have chalked out plans to enhance quarterly tax by 20-25 per cent on transport vehicles.However, officials maintained that they are formulating proposals to tweak the tax structure to generate an additional Rs 200 crore revenue. They reasoned that Telangana State, too, had increased Life Time Tax as well as quarterly tax on goods and passenger vehicles, resulting in a surge in their revenues.
It may be noted that the Life Time Tax, imposed on two and four-wheelers, was hiked in December 2021. The State transport department had also increased green tax to generate an additional revenue of Rs 400 crore per year. Following the hike in Life Time Tax, the transport department posted a 38.88 per cent jump as revenue surged to Rs 1,215.51 crore in the first half of the financial year 2022-23 as against Rs 875.20 crore during the same period last year.
Even before the proposed enhancement, quarterly tax on transport vehicles saw a jump of 31.57 per cent to Rs 529.86 crore in the first half from Rs 402.72 crore during the same period last year.The department’s revenue has shot up by 39.15 per cent during April-September in the current fiscal. The revenue registered during the period stood at Rs 2,130.92 crore as against Rs 1,531.29 crore during the same period in the previous year.