Motor tax hike could cause private bus fares to go up
Close on the heels of a rise in power tariff, milk price and bus charges, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday sought to hike road tax for certain categories of vehicles and permit fees for private luxury coaches. The proposed hike is expected to help the government mop up additional revenue of a few hundred crores of rupees from vehicle registrations and road tax, but it could leave a hole in the pocket of those travelling in omni buses.
To facilitate the hikes, a bill was introduced in the assembly to amend the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1974. Once passed, the new tax structure will have retrospective effect from April 1. "According to the new tax structure, we have to pay 18,000 more per quarter as tax for a 36-seater bus. As of now, we pay 1,26,000 per bus per quarter as tax. It will definitely affect the owners. We will have to increase 20 per ticket to nullify the additional expense," said R kumar, an omni bus owner in Chennai.
However, passengers feel the effective hike in fares will be much more, taking into consideration the lack of regulations in the case of omni bus fares.