Tax increased on petrol vehicles

25 April 2011 09:03 am Views - 20137

The excise duty on hybrid vehicles and petrol vehicles will see sharp increases, Customs and Treasury officials said.

Hybrid cars with engines below engine capacity1600 CC will see an imposition of  8 per-cent excise duty, according to Deputy Director General of Customs Ajantha Dias. For hybrid cars with engines above 1600 cubic centimeters excise duty will be increased to 24%.

Meanwhile on hybrids between 2000 to 3000 CC excise duty will go up close to 75% and above 3,000 CC to 100%.

Earlier, there was no excise duty on hybrid vehicles but only 15% tax and a 12% VAT. In the past two months about 3,000 hybrids have been imported into the country.

Meanwhile the excise duty on petrol vehicles less than 1000 CC will see an increase of about 38 per-cent from the previous rate between 23% while those between 1000 and 1500 CC will see an increase in excise duties of 43%. (Dianne Silva)