 Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 22: Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) has questioned the hike in the road tax levied on all motor vehicles.
Addressing media persons regarding SRO 492 dated 1st August 2019 issued by the Transport Department, J&K Govt, the JCCI termed the new tax as exuberant and unjustified hike of taxes levied on motor vehicles & two wheelers in J&K.
" Tax shall be levied on Motor Vehicles using any Public road in the state of Jammu & Kashmir at the rates specified against each namely All Motor Vehicles - One time tax @9% of the cost of the vehicle. Motorcycle costing above 1.5 lacs - one time tax @10% of the cost of the vehicle "
The JCCI President Rakesh Gupta said that the authorities are not clear on the definition of the cost. In the neighbouring states of Himachal and Punjab the rates vary between 3% to 6% as registration fee which is charged on the basic cost without the GST , in J&K it is being levied on the total cost i.e. Basic cost + GST.
During a meeting with the Advisor Mr. K. Skandan JCCI informed him about the expected decline in sales , infact there is slowdown in the auto sector across India and sales are down by 30%.
The manufacturers of automobiles have started shutting down their plants for 4 to 5 days in a month & have relieved all casual employees. Same is the case with suppliers of auto parts to these manufacturers who have closed down their plants. As per estimates almost 300 automobile dealerships have shutdown across India in the past one year and approx 10000 people have lost their jobs in the auto sector.
Coming to J&K the incidence of tax would be between Rs. 45000 on a vehicle costing Rs 5 lacs and Rs 2,92,500 on a vehicle costing Rs 32.5 lacs. We wonder if this can be called discrimination as both users would be using the same road.
Further going through the data of NIC the tax collected by the transport department for the financial year 2018-19 was Rs. 177 crores which works out to less than 2% of the total turnover of the automobile industry of J&K which is approx. 10,000 cr.
On the subject of management and administration we need to empathise with the prospective customer. We need to sit in the chair of the customer and think whether he would buy a vehicle with increased taxes which total upto an additional 40% to 60% of the value.
"We have noted with the incidence of increased RTO Tax , customers have avoided/deferred the purchases of Motor Vehicles across all dealerships in J&K which has resulted in 90% drop in sales in the month of August", it reads.
They requested to modify the slab on lower rates , as lower sales would also result in lower collection of GST and reduction in revenue to the State.
Also present in the press conference include Rajesh Gupta, Sr. Vice President CCI, Rajeev Gupta, Jr. Vice President CCI, Manish Gupta, Secretary General CCI, Gaurav Gupta, Secretary CCI, Sh. Anchal Singh Manhas, President Jammu Province Tourist Taxi Operators Federation, Sh. D.K.Batra, President Automobile Dealers Association Pardeep Jain, General Secretary Automobile Dealers Association, Vikas Rathore, Sanjay Mahajan, Anil Puri, Rohit Gandotra, Sahil Mahajan, Sanjay Aggarwal, Taranjit Singh, Manik Batra, Satyam Gupta, Vikram Puri, Sanjay Mehra and others. |
