Tajik authorities have changed their mind about abolishing road tax.  The Ministry of Finance says that if the road tax is abolished the budget will receive 360 million somoni less.

The government had previously promised to abolish the road tax this year but it will remain intact for at least one more year.

An appropriate draft amendment to the country’s tax code will be considered at the ninth session of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper house of parliament) in Dushanbe tomorrow.

Members of Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament had earlier voted for postponing the abolition of the road tax until January 1, 2018. 

The Ministry of Finance justified its proposal to postpone the abolition of the tax road by saying that if the road tax is abolished the budget will receive 360 million somoni less this year.

Recall, the government in 2012 promised to reduce the tax road in 2015 and to abolish it in 2017.  In his address to a joint meeting of both houses of the parliament, President Emomali Rahmon also noted in April 2014 that the road tax will be reduced in 2015 and abolished in 2017.  

Road tax, known by various names around the world, is a tax which has to be paid on a motor vehicle before using it on a public road.