Mumbai: If you can afford a Rs 1.5 crore Mercedes, a rugged Rs 2 crore Land Rover Defender, or a roaring Porsche, you can certainly afford to pay your fair share of taxes to the city you drive it in. That is the stern, uncompromised message coming out of the Maharashtra state transport department following an intensive crackdown on high-end vehicle owners dodging Mumbai’s steep road taxes by fraudulently registering their luxury acquisitions in the Union Territory of Diu and Daman under the registration code DD.The special drive, which shifted into high gear on Oct 5 along Mumbai’s western corridor around Andheri, has already detected 45 active cases. Enforcement squads have impounded two high-end vehicles on the spot, while four major auto dealerships have come under the scanner for their role in facilitating the tax-routing loophole, said a senior RTO official on Friday. Initial estimates show a revenue leakage of Rs 4 to 5 crore in tax liabilities from these cases alone.While several affluent owners orchestrated the interstate registrations independently, RTO investigations revealed that dealership agents often recommended the tax-saving trick during sales negotiations.Led by a directive from the transport commissioner Rajesh Narvekar, regional transport offices, with a heavy focus on the western suburbs under deputy RTO Swapnil Mane, have hauled in dozens of luxury models for bypassing local exchequer dues over the past 10 days. “In Maharashtra, the road tax for high-end and imported cars ranges between 15% and 20% of the vehicle’s cost. For a luxury model valued upwards of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore, this translates to a tax bill running into several lakhs of rupees. By exploiting proxy addresses or shell setups to register vehicles under the DD series, buyers slash their tax liability to almost half or even one-third of the regular statutory amount,” an official part of the raiding team said.RTO officials pointed out that using Mumbai’s roads and contributing to local vehicular pollution while deliberately routing registration taxes away from the state exchequer to save Rs 15 to 20 lakh was “completely unacceptable”, calling it a direct hit on public infrastructure funding. Transport authorities have issued strong warnings to at least four local dealers, making it clear that commercial establishments caught coaching clients or enabling fake out-of-state registrations will face severe legal action and trade licence suspensions.
