94 luxury car owners have paid Rs 5 crore in fines for evading tax, 501 more cars under processing
Danny Denzongpa’s Range Rover (left) was among the high-end vehicles that were seized by RTO officials
Maharashtra government has collected Rs five crore as fine from luxury car owners, who had registered their vehicle outside the state and evaded tax, State Transport Minister Diwakar Raote said on Tuesday.
“The state transport ministry had initiated this action from January 18. 595 luxury cars have been identified so far. The car owners, who reside in the state, had registered their luxury cars outside Maharashtra with an intention of tax evasion”, Raote told reporters outside the ‘Vidhan Bhawan’ in Mumbai.
The crackdown on tax evaders started as a part of a special drive initiated by Transport Commissioner Praveen Gedam in January. In the first month alone, special flying squads seized a record 450 vehicles, of which over 400 were from the Mumbai region.
“The fine collected from 94 luxury cars of the 595 is Rs five crore. Once we will complete the procedure of remaining 501 cars, the generation of revenue will be huge”, he added.
The Minister also said he is considering to introduce some schemes for luxury car owners, who are found evading tax by registering the vehicles outside the state.
Registering vehicles in Maharashtra is an expensive affair as the state levies between 11 to 13 percent tax on luxury vehicles, one of the highest the country. Those registering their vehicles within Mumbai have to bear an additional Octroi tax.
As a result, many who purchase these expensive vehicles choose to register their cars in other states which have lower tax rates.
Actor Danny Denzongpa’s Range Rover (registered to Sikkim) and T-series owner Bhushan Kumar’s Mercedes Maybach (registered to Puducherry) were among the vehicles seized as a part of the drive.
