Tax on vanity vans reaches starry heights

Luxury on the state’s roads hit a pricey bump on Thursday when the state cabinet decided to hike the annual tax levied on camper vans, mostly used by Bollywood actors and industrialists, from Rs1,000 to nearly Rs25,000 per annum, following the lead taken by some neighbouring states.

It was brought to the notice of the state government that these vans were not included in annex A of the Motor Vehicle Tax Act 1958, and thereby can be taxed separately. While other states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka charge a tax of Rs45,000 to Rs47,000 annually, the state has been taxing them a paltry Rs1,000 to Rs6,000. This, when Maharashtra has the highest number of these luxury vehicles.

Transport commissioner Deepak Kapoor said that with the hiked taxes, revenue will go up by nearly Rs2 crore. “According to our survey, Mumbai, Thane and Pune have more than 300 camper vans, which are rented out to Bollywood stars in shifts of six to eight hours. The taxes levied on such vans range between Rs6,000 to Rs1,000. With this decision, taxes are expected to go up to between Rs12,000 to Rs25,000, depending on the size of vehicle,” he added.

Charges will now be based on the size of the van; the annual tax is Rs5,000 per square meter. “So far, though the van owners were raking in hefty sums, the government was earning a minimal amount from taxes. We have adopted the Karnataka model while finalising the new taxes,” Kapoor said.

Taxes for multi-seat taxis plying in rural areas also has been hiked to Rs1,000 per seat annually. Taxes for travel buses with capacity between 12-24 seats have been increased to Rs1,700 per seat annually.