[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by asdon

Yes, the rule should change, but we have to change our mindset too, I have many friends with HR26 or UP16 cars in Bangalore and they are staying here for long time, I feel those must be fined properly..

I feel the whole taxing structure is wrong- tax should be national and not state level! The current concept is so 80s- the whole country has developed a lot since then- life has become so unpredictable and people are forced to move from one state to another within a short span. My own personal experience- I'm from Kerala, worked in TN for 4 years hence bought the car from there, was forced to move to Bangalore soon. Resigned after about 11 months and now serving notice period with current employer, and might end up in any of these neighbouring states for my new job.

If every state starts harassing other state vehicles, god bless us!

HRs, UPs, TNs, KLs, APs- hopefully someday it will just read IND.

[asdon]

Yes, that I agree with you, not only road tax, I am for uniform fuel pricing too...

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by asdon

Yes, that I agree with you, not only road tax, I am for uniform fuel pricing too...

The point here is since KA charges the highest road tax in the country and if the uniform tax slab is enforced, the state would lose bulk of its earnings. The authorities will be more worried about as to how to bridge the deficit.

Till then i suppose there could be resistance to the uniform tax slab structure

[swiftnfurious]

If uniform tax can NOT be done, at least provision of paying taxes on an yearly basis should be made. People should have the option to either opt for a 15 year term or yearly payment mode. Yearly payment can have some additional premium to justify the convenience it offers. So people who are sure to be within the state can opt for 15 year term and save cash while others can choose to pay an yearly sum with some additional premium thrown in.

Edit:: And yes, to prevent malpractices by the owners (opting for yearly payment and NOT renewing the RT), very severe fines should be imposed which may include seizing the vehicle and releasing it ONLY after a life time tax payment. Or it could include confiscating a vehicle for atleast 3 months etc.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

I feel the whole taxing structure is wrong- tax should be national and not state level! The current concept is so 80s- the whole country has developed a lot since then- life has become so unpredictable and people are forced to move from one state to another within a short span. My own personal experience- I'm from Kerala, worked in TN for 4 years hence bought the car from there, was forced to move to Bangalore soon. Resigned after about 11 months and now serving notice period with current employer, and might end up in any of these neighbouring states for my new job.

If every state starts harassing other state vehicles, god bless us!

HRs, UPs, TNs, KLs, APs- hopefully someday it will just read IND.

First of all one should not forget this is ROAD TAX and not VEHICLE TAX.The taxation of this is a state subject and cannot be made a union tax (national level) for a few peoples convenience.I dont forsee an IND number plate happening in the near future.Also one solution is allowing the one year grace period to all.But one should see the other side-many outside state vehicle owners dont like to change the registration at all,for ever so many reasons.

[srishiva]

Wonder what happened to decentralization?

Fund allocation to states from Centre in our country is not impartial and need based. Its subject to blackmailing, favoritism and coalition politics etc.

I think the best is as suggested above to have the person choose the period for which he is willing to pay from 6 months to 15 years. The whole life time tax is wrong and hope someone appeals against it in the courts.

[asdon]

Originally Posted by ajay99

First of all one should not forget this is ROAD TAX and not VEHICLE TAX.The taxation of this is a state subject and cannot be made a union tax (national level) for a few peoples convenience

You have absolutely no idea about the number of Few people moving from different states, it is more than the total cars registered in some of the states. Laws are made to ease the issues not to complex things, when we can have CMVR, which is a central rule/Law, I don't see why we can not have Union road tax, on similar lines as income tax. The states get their share from Union Govt from the tax we pay, so the road tax component also can be done same way. Its just that no political party has taken up this actual aam aadmi issue... hope some day some one will take it up.

[sriturl]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

I feel the whole taxing structure is wrong- tax should be national and not state level!

If every state starts harassing other state vehicles, god bless us!

There is already lot of discussion about Center-State relations etc. etc. I will not go into that angle of it, but de-centralization is the key, and I feel current taxation setup is decent, but the scope for improvement lies in automating a lot of workflow with it.
Hopefully, the national register plan https://vahan.nic.in/nrservices/
provides this much needed wrapper.
What lacks in current setup is the speed with which you can apply for a transfer from one state to other, and the verification process from the other state RTO by the target RTO.
Once the states can see each others' records through a central database, the verification and transfer should be through the click of a button or two.
Hopefully, they will let people make these applications online, as they envisage

This is what the vahan site says
-->
VAHAN is a highly flexible and comprehensive system that takes care of all the burdensome activities of Vehicle Registration, leaving the Transport Department to deal with more important business issues. The software enables the processes at RTO/DTO/MLO/SDM involving Vehicle Registration, Fitness, Taxes, Permits & Enforcement to get computerized.
<--

Edit - Just saw that national permit fees can be paid online through this site - https://vahan.nic.in/npermit/

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

The authorities will be more worried about as to how to bridge the deficit.

I feel a uniform tax slab has to be enforced across the nation and the state where the car is registered should be allowed to collect the revenue. This would prevent malpractices where people register in other states just to avoid paying higher road tax, while allowing for the genuine cases to live peacefully.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Edit:: And yes, to prevent malpractices by the owners (opting for yearly payment and NOT renewing the RT), very severe fines should be imposed which may include seizing the vehicle and releasing it ONLY after a life time tax payment. Or it could include confiscating a vehicle for atleast 3 months etc.

That would increase the police harassment considerably. We have even seen cases were the constables just tore away the toll receipts presented - how do genuine cases prove themselves? And with such heavy fines imposed - the demand for bribes will be a lot more!

Originally Posted by sriturl

What lacks in current setup is the speed with which you can apply for a transfer from one state to other, and the verification process from the other state RTO by the target RTO.

A very valid point. I have suffered at the hands of KL-TN RTOs once for vehicle transfer. Its a very tiring process indeed.

However, even if we resolve that problem - how do we avoid getting questioned by cops/ RTOs every time we go out on a drive outside the state? If every state imposes the same model of questioning (Blocking every other-state car on the ever-busy Bannerghatta road, for example) - its going to be a big inconvenience for everybody. Forget peacefully heading out for long drives, vacations etc.

Originally Posted by ajay99

The taxation of this is a state subject and cannot be made a union tax (national level) for a few peoples convenience.

If a uniform tax structure is imposed nation -wide and the states are allowed to collect the revenue for cars registered in their state - I believe it shouldn't inconvenience anyone. If it truly doesn't hurt anyone - Is it so bad to change the current setup 'for a few peoples convenience'?

[sriturl]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

However, even if we resolve that problem - how do we avoid getting questioned by cops/ RTOs every time we go out on a drive outside the state? If every state imposes the same model of questioning (Blocking every other-state car on the ever-busy Bannerghatta road, for example) - its going to be a big inconvenience for everybody. Forget peacefully heading out for long drives, vacations etc.

I have never been stopped on vacation in other states. I havent seen other state cars on visit being stopped either. RTO guys according to me have the skills to identify vehicles moved, rather than visiting.
There are lot of things which give away that you are working here, your parking stickers (office, apartment etc etc)
I have seen cars being stopped and when they claim that they are visiting, he was promptly show the parking sticker, and the id-card he was wearing on the way to work.
vacationing never have been a problem. The main idea is for govt to catch tax violators. They are doing their job. How to get the process of transfer simplified is a different topic.

Agreed, we are a over-legislated country, but in this case as in any other country, vehicle registration is a state subject. All states earn major chunk of revenue from taxes like road tax, fuel tax etc., no one will lose control over it.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by asdon

Yes, the rule should change, but we have to change our mindset too, I have many friends with HR26 or UP16 cars in Bangalore and they are staying here for long time, I feel those must be fined properly..

Why sir. Do they fine KA vehicles in Delhi/NCR/UP ?

We must let go of this "outsider" mentality.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by asdon

You have absolutely no idea about the number of Few people moving from different states, it is more than the total cars registered in some of the states. Laws are made to ease the issues not to complex things, when we can have CMVR, which is a central rule/Law, I don't see why we can not have Union road tax, on similar lines as income tax. The states get their share from Union Govt from the tax we pay, so the road tax component also can be done same way. Its just that no political party has taken up this actual aam aadmi issue... hope some day some one will take it up.

The total number of motorcars registered in Kerala is around 14 lakhs.Do you mean to say more than 14 lakh cars come to kerala for long term stay(more than 1year)? No one is against uniform rate of road tax.I was mentioning about a single Registration number for the whole of India ,to which I had posted my view point.
the reason why no party has taken it up or likely to take it up because it is not an ''aam admi'' issue.Majority of those who get transferred across states are Central govt officers(who have an exemption in case of this) and the well paid professional employees.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

....That would increase the police harassment considerably. We have even seen cases were the constables just tore away the toll receipts presented - how do genuine cases prove themselves? And with such heavy fines imposed - the demand for bribes will be a lot more! ...

How? If the Road Tax is NOT paid for the current year, then they need to be fined. This needs to be implemented all over India to prevent problems; NOT only in Karnataka.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by sriturl

I have never been stopped on vacation in other states. I havent seen other state cars on visit being stopped either. RTO guys according to me have the skills to identify vehicles moved, rather than visiting. There are lot of things which give away that you are working here, your parking stickers (office, apartment etc etc) I have seen cars being stopped and when they claim that they are visiting, he was promptly show the parking sticker, and the id-card he was wearing on the way to work. vacationing never have been a problem. The main idea is for govt to catch tax violators. They are doing their job. How to get the process of transfer simplified is a different topic. Agreed, we are a over-legislated country, but in this case as in any other country, vehicle registration is a state subject. All states earn major chunk of revenue from taxes like road tax, fuel tax etc., no one will lose control over it.

I have been, within 6 months of moving to Bangalore. We were coming back from a team Bhp meet when only my car was asked to pull over. The cop very rudely asked me in Kannada to step out of the car with the documents handy, checked it and since I had valid documents including a valid other state PUC and toll receipts- suddenly his tone changed and was politely asked in english to leave.

No parking stickers on my car.

Was not wearing ID card, infact you could call it vacationing since me and wife were just driving back from a team Bhp long drive.

And best part? I was made to stop at a signal on the right lane bang in the middle of traffic flow. Similar to the bannerghatta road situation I mentioned in earlier post. This inconveniences everyone, including people on a visit with proper KA plates.

If every state 'tries to do their job' this way- driving experience is sure to go for a toss. Anyways, going OT and I have made my point clear I think- so I'll stop for now before the mods interfere. .

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

How? If the Road Tax is NOT paid for the current year, then they need to be fined. This needs to be implemented all over India to prevent problems; NOT only in Karnataka.

Because the cops gets to decide if it's a genuine visit or the vehicle actually needs to pay 1 year road tax. And that power- along with the common man's fear of his car getting impounded can go a long way in increasing corruption.

[sabret00the]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

This inconveniences everyone, including people on a visit with proper KA plates. And that power- along with the common man's fear of his car getting impounded can go a long way in increasing corruption.

Surprisingly in my case I can confirm no one behaved badly during the entire episode. The inspector stopped my vehicle, checked all the papers and declared that I had to pay the KA road tax since I had all the tell tell signs, Service Station, Apartment & Office Stickers on the windshield; PUC and Insurance was renewed here in Bangalore. And I was going to office.

Even while paying the Tax no one I can recall behaved in a bad way. It's just they took the help of a language I don't understand to make me run from pillar to post so that eventually I grease their palms. Which unfortunately I had to do.

Further, I recall I was stopped once over for speeding on ORR after the underpass (87kmph ) and once for taking a wrong right turn at Koramangala Sony World Signal (Pretty late in the night). Again no cop behaved rudely. They checked all the papers, asked me to pay the fine which I paid and they handed over the slip. Never a question about the WB plates.