Pay Green Tax Upto 50% Of Road Tax For 8 Year Or Older Vehicles – Both Private, Commercial Vehicle

On Monday, the Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has approved a proposal to impose a green tax on some categories of vehicles, which seems to be creating the stage for phasing out old pollution-causing vehicles.

Green Tax Proposal

Moving ahead, the proposal will be referred to the states for consultation before it is notified, according to sources.

According to this proposal, the vehicles such as strong hybrids, electric vehicles and those running on alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol and LPG will be exempted.

 On the other hand, the revenue collected through the green tax will be utilised for tackling pollution, said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

As per the ministry’s statement, “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,”.

Which Vehicle Will Be Affected By Green Tax?

The 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 per cent of road tax, under this scheme.

According to this, public transport vehicles, such as city buses, should be charged lower green tax.

While, higher green tax (50 per cent of road tax) for vehicles being registered in highly polluted cities.

Also, differential tax will be charged, mainly depending on the type of vehicle and  the type of fuel vehicle use.

According to this scheme, not only strong hybrids, but electric vehicles and alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG etc, also the vehicles used in farming, such as tractor, harvester and tiller will also be exempted from the tax.

Utilization Of Revenue Generated By Green Tax 

Moving ahead, the revenues collected from the green tax will be kept in a separate account and will be utilized in tackling pollution, ministry said.

For doing so, the states will be required to set up state-of-art facilities for emission monitoring.

This move will dissuade people from using vehicles which damage the environment and motivate them to switch to newer, less polluting vehicles, notification said while  talking about the benefits of the green tax.

It said, “Green tax will reduce the pollution level, and make the polluter pay for pollution,”.