THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has raised strong objection to a proposal by the Centre to introduce uniform, one-time road tax for motor vehicles across the country, citing it as a blatant encroachment on the state's domain. Transport minister A K Saseendran raised the objection at the seventh extended empowered group of ministers (eGoM) on transportation issues that was held at Guwahati in the past two days.While most states welcomed the idea, Kerala and Puducherry opposed the proposed change that would be based on tax slabs on the basis of vehicle value."Road tax is an exclusive domain of the states as per the Constitution. The Centre is limiting the powers of the states that have been provided to them under the federal system. The matter of road tax needs to be finalized after discussing with the states and ironing out the issues," Saseendran said.The proposal submitted in the eGoM suggested a slab system based on the value of vehicles, in which vehicles priced up to Rs 10 lakh should remit 8% of the vehicle value as tax, those priced in the range from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh should pay 10% of the purchase value as road tax and those above Rs 20 lakh should remit 12% as road tax. While the proposal suggested an additional 2% for diesel vehicles, it offered a rebate of 2% for electric vehicles.At present the state follows a slab-based taxation system, but at a higher tax slab. If the proposal is agreed to, the state would stand to lose revenue as it is one of the few avenues left for the state to earn revenue after the implementation of GST. The state also argues that uniform road tax is not a logical idea as the topographical conditions, type of roads and the vehicles being used are different in different states."It is not a practical solution as road conditions and transportation issues differ from state to state. We raised our objection citing this factor," transport commissioner K Padmakumar said.

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