[wheelguy]

Under the scheme, transport vehicles older than eight years could be charged green tax at the time of renewal of fitness certificate at the rate of 10 to 25 percent of road tax.

New Delhi: The government plans to impose green tax on old polluting vehicles soon in a bid protect environment and curb pollution. Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and those running on alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol and LPG will be exempted while the revenue collected through the green tax will be utilized for tackling pollution, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said on Monday.

"The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has approved a proposal to levy a 'green tax' on old vehicles which are polluting the environment," it said in a statement.

The proposal will now go to the states for consultation before it is formally notified, it added.

Under the scheme, transport vehicles older than eight years could be charged green tax at the time of renewal of fitness certificate at the rate of 10 to 25 percent 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 percent of road tax) for vehicles being registered in highly polluted cities," the statement said.

Differential tax will also be charged depending on fuel (petrol/ diesel) and the type of vehicle.

Apart from strong hybrids, electric vehicles and alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG etc, vehicles used in farming, such as tractor, harvestor and tiller will be exempted from the tax, the statement said.

According to the ministry, the revenue collected from the green tax will be kept in a separate account and will be used for tackling pollution.

The states will be required to set up state-of-art facilities for emission monitoring, it added.

Listing the benefits of the green tax, the ministry said that it will dissuade people from using vehicles that damage the environment and motivate them to switch to newer, less polluting vehicles.

"Green tax will reduce the pollution level, and make the polluter pay for pollution," it added.

Source

[landcruiser123]

Definitely a suggestion from the Auto Industry Lobby. Every new vehicle that is manufactured produces a lot of greenhouse gases, uses a lot of water and electricity. Why not charge an import green tax on auto parts? Why not charge auto-makers a green tax per unit of electricity and per litre of water consumed?

The common man gets screwed every time a new regulation is proposed. I know at least 5 people in Bangalore who have 15+ year old pristinely maintained Marutis which have less than 100k km on the odo. These people drive only 3-5k km a year - they'd be screwing the environment more by buying a new car than maintaining their existing rides and driving their usual low mileage.

[vikred]

The govt. should definitely look into

1. two-stroke auto-rickshaws (which continue to sell long after two-stroke engines were banned in the '90s from the passenger vehicle market). Not sure about other markets, but Hyderabad has a ton of them and almost all of them emit thick visible smoke.
2. loud Piaggio Ape kind of vehicles. Lot of noise pollution, more than the honking on the streets

Green tax on old commercial vehicles is far more easy to impose because of the yearly renewals. However, I'm not too positive about taxing old petrol passenger cars. Which, when well maintained, don't emit a ton of pollutants.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing! Moving thread to the Indian Car Scene.

Just FYI, I have already been paying a green / environment tax at the time of each FC renewal of my '97 Jeep. It's a couple of thousand bucks.

[Bibendum90949]

A good move to go for a reward and penalty policy and green tax policy is in fact a pre cursor to scrappage policy that's slated to come into effect from April 2022, has incentives in the form of lesser road tax and registration fee waiver for vehicle owners who scrap their old vehicle and go in for new vehicle.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/in...2-6395261.html

It's quite logical that people who opt to renew their old vehicles are penalized too. Yes people who maintain their old vehicles in immaculate condition are going to bear the brunt.

This policy I guess will have a huge bearing on used car prices too especially the ones above 10 years old since 25% road tax payment during fitness renewal is a substantial amount for an old vehicle.

[DicKy]

AFAIK, Kerala MVD already charges some ₹200-500 as green tax for vehicles older than 15 years.

IMHO, just another revenue stream for the government.
To cover up for their inefficiency in ensuring proper vehicle fitness tests.

Well, anything is better than outright banning stuff.

Gawd...waiting for our compatriots to install CNG/LPG kits to circumvent the rule.

[stanjohn123]

It's really bad news for 15 year old petrol vehicles which are maintained in immaculate condition. My 2006 Esteem VXi is one such vehicle. Even for 1.5 lakhs I was not ready to let it go since I believe a similar new vehicle today will cost at least 15 lakhs Rs on road today.

I see this as just another revenue source for the government by burdening Middle Class with more tax or forcing us to buy the overtly expensive new cars (due to governments high taxation )in the market. .

[nakul0888]

At some point in my life I would love to see some benefits from the taxes milked out of the Indian motorist. Roads without potholes, functioning street lights, traffic lights, pedestrian sidewalks, a sewer system, garbage disposal. When are we gonna see any of these? At least show us something that has actually been done properly before milking us with more taxes.

[fordday]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks for sharing! Moving thread to the Indian Car Scene.

Just FYI, I have already been paying a green / environment tax at the time of each FC renewal of my '97 Jeep. It's a couple of thousand bucks.

During the 15 year renewal, I too paid 500 rupees as green tax and another 1000 rupees as some Road safety cess. This apart from the 600 rupees renewal charge, in Bangalore.

[Cessna182]

These rules are funny. So far I have not come across any scientific reasoning behind the 15 year rule in the NCR. Why 15? Did this rule truly help the NCR pollution ratings?

If the PUC is valid, how can one car be labelled as polluting, while a newer model, which may sip more fuel, be called non-polluting? If a Qualis gives 16 kmpl, and a new Hector gives 13 kmpl, which one is more polluting? Yes, emission norms consider many gases in addition to the carbon emissions, but even then there should be a debate about incentivizing fuel economy instead of unscientific rules about penalizing older cars.

But then again, the bureaucratic and political elite class in India was never known for being scientific.

[Kosfactor]

^^ In India a car owner is considered as Elite, anything that`s going to make us pay more is a political win. That is just the way it is.

It will take many lakhs of Kms before a new vehicle catches up to an existing vehicle in terms of environmental friendliness , So for commercial vehicles there is merit in a refresh, refreshing private cars is just going to help the auto industry, nobody else.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

^^ In India a car owner is considered as Elite, ...

No they are not. They are rather considered milch cows. A silent suffering class who are just born to pay taxes and sulk silently. And, Govt. and car manufacturers are in cahoots with each other in this milking game. Every time car prices go up, govt. nets more revenue. Govt. must be very happy with car manufacturers' greed. And, as for car manufacturers, they have figured out that Indians are suckers for cars. Many even choose a car over a house, as their first big ticket purchase. Car makers have realized this and you see them raising prices, God knows how many times a year. I sometimes feel not to buy a new car just to spite them both.

[tharian]

My father's Swift from 2005 which is used everyday and run 65k kms still doesn't have carbon deposits in the tail pipe.
A fellow member's 72' FIAT 1100d nearing a lakh kms which is used by me, got its PUC done recently and it passed.

When will these nitwits spare the common man to satisfy their needs

[aargee]

Most welcome move in either ways...

If it's paltry sum in form of green tax (close to Rs 1000 for my old Rx & Activa), then, I can consider I'm donating money to a b****r cause.

If it's ridiculously high, I can give up both riding & driving, it will save a serious hell a lot of my money; I can even invest them in govt bonds!!

[V.Narayan]

Whether we like it or not we the car owning citizenry represent some figure north of the top 7% households in this land. The top 7% households in India have an annual income of ~Rs 23 lakhs. The top 1% have an annual income of Rs 55 lakhs. Every one on Team BHP membership rolls is most probably in that 7% bracket. If your household owns 2 cars you are almost certainly as a household in the top 2%. So if the Govt won't tax us who will it tax? Now the taxes may not make sense, the taxes may seem ill-logical and by definition any tax is seen as punitive in the eyes of the tax payer. Right now I am not commenting on whether these green taxes are sensible or not - that is a separate point. I'm only addressing the lament expressed by many on this and other threads of us the car owner being taxed to death. That is true. But don't expect that to change anytime in the medium term future. Compare our income with the gross income of the domestic worker in our house. Half the country is below her. If our household income at $23,000 is roughly 13X the per capita then enthusiastic taxing is inevitable.