You may think twice before owning a car in coming years. And if you manage to buy one, your life would be heavily taxing.
National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), a policy document under JNNURM, requires that local taxes be increased for privately owned vehicles in city and the cost, including VAT and road tax, be brought at par with that of vehicles used for public transport. The funds collected by means of these taxes will have to be used for building better transport and road infrastructure in city.

The rationale offered for increase in taxes is that, since a long time, private vehicles, mainly car owners have been paying four times less vehicle tax compared to public transport. Though the number of cars keep increasing, the length of the roads increase at an annual rate of 0.81 per cent. A concept paper by CEPT university predicts that in the coming 12 years, the number of cars will increase at a rate of 32 per cent per annum. It was recorded as 13 per cent in 2008. Especially with small budget cars that will be unveiled in less than a year's time, the scenario will change for most Amdavadis and parkings pace will be limited.

The concept paper mentions a near 59 per cent increase in the present vehicle tax for cars while a 12 and 4 per cent increase in local taxes for petrol and diesel respectively. This is besides the money one will shell out on parking car on the street.

"Singapore model of taxation, that works in three stages of 2011, 2021 and 2031, has been helpful in controlling car and vehicle ownership per 1,000 population. It encourages public to take to public transport. For instance, the 79 cars per 1,000 today is expected to go to 131 per 1,000 population in the city while vehicle ownership per 1,000 population is expected to come down to 249 from 362 by 2031," says a senior official in urban development department.