Nepal government regards automobiles as luxury goods and not as goods of necessity. So, it charges 245% on import of automobiles. However, in today's world, automobiles are among basic necessities.

On the other hand, Nepal is among twenty poorest nations in the world and second in Asia. The per capita income in Nepal is about $1,000. A lower end family/commute car costs on an average $20,000. For a middle class person, it will take about twenty years to be able to afford a car. Not having a family car is being denied of mobility that is enshrined in the constitution of Nepal. 

The Government, however, makes a good amount of money out of the tax collected from import of cars. The Government, instead of providing relief to its hard-working working class, puts this exorbitant tax on owning a necessary means of transport.

Nepal is the 122 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International. It seems the tax collected generally end of reaching wrong hands in Government.

The Government has been able to get away with this exorbitant tax by linking the increase in number of cars to clogged roads and pollution. That is misleading. It is, but the corruption and inefficiencies in the Government that has failed to cope up with the needed road expansions vis-a-vis the rate of increase in population. The tax should not be a cover up for Government inefficiencies.

Therefore, we request the Representatives in Parliament of Nepal to bring a bill to lower the the Import duty on family/commute vehicles at 20-30% (as is the case with most countries) and make cars affordable, and rides safer in Nepal. This will also save thousands of lives that are lost on riskier means of transport like motorbikes.