The document discusses why citizens pay tolls on major highways and roads in India. It acknowledges citizens' frustrations with paying taxes yet seeing road quality decline. However, it explains that the government's infrastructure budget is insufficient and toll fees help bridge the funding gap. Toll revenues are used to maintain existing roads and build new ones, benefiting citizens. While individuals contribute only 30% of government earnings through income tax, infrastructure needs funding from various sources. The document advocates that tolls are a reasonable way to charge urban citizens who can afford to help finance roads that all citizens use.

1. Why do you pay toll?

2. The increasing
depreciation in road
quality has caused an
uproar among the
masses

3. And lately there have been
strong requests from the
citizens to do away with
Tolls at all major highways
and roads.

4. We know, and we
understand your pain. It
won’t be wrong to assume
that you want the same.

5. “ Why am I paying tolls when
I am already paying a bunch
of taxes like road tax, income
tax, auto tax etc.?”
“What is the government
doing with all that money if
the road conditions are
getting worse every year?”
You may have questions like,

7. Let’s back up a little.

8. India has an extensive road network of
5.5M km as of Oct, 2019.
Development of road infrastructure
has been a priority to take our country
to the next level.
And the plan to is to build 21000 km
of roads between FY20 - 22 under the
Bharatmala Pariyojana.

9. This is primarily to reduce the
travel time on road, the
pollution caused by vehicles
and the congestion due to
heavy traffic.

10. 06
The vision is to make India a
$5 trillion economy by 2025.
And to do this the road infrastructure needs to be
spruced up at a faster pace!

11. 0
In the Union Budget of FY 19-20, a total of ₹86,000 cr
has been allocated to the MoRTH and NHAI.
But today, we are constructing projects worth ₹8 lakh cr!

12. Land acquisition costs and maintenance
of roads are the major cost centres here.

13. So, how do we
bridge this gap?

14. You would say,
“From the pockets of 1 billion taxpayers!
And yet you want us to pay tolls?!”

15. Hmm...valid question.
Let’s take a look at how this
liquidity flows.

16. How does the Government earn?

17. Some sources of revenue for the Indian Government
Source: Livemint
Corporate Tax
GST
Personal Income Tax
Excise
Customs

18. Where does the Government spend
this money majorly?
Banking & Finance Defence Infrastructure Industry Social Justice
Investments Agriculture
and allied
activities
Rural
Development
Social security Education

19. And this list doesn’t even
scratch the surface!

20. If you see, personal income tax is
just ONE OF THE MANY sources!
And that doesn’t even contribute to
30% of the earnings for the
government!

21. Which means,
The earnings don’t suffice to meet the
regular mandatory requirements, let alone
spare for new initiatives.

22. So the question is...

23. WHY DO YOU PAY TOLL?

24. You pay for Good Services
Regular maintenance and upkeep of the roads, requires funds. We are short of money to
build new roads, how can we spare money to maintain them?

25. To bridge the deficit
Government doesn’t have the money to fund new projects. Land acquisition costs and rural
road projects demand heavy investment.

26. Charge those who can pay
The government needs money to build roads in the metros as well as the rural areas.
The government collects toll from the urban citizens because they can afford to pay for it.
Whereas collecting toll in the rural areas is difficult, since the people cannot afford to pay for it!

27. The government doesn’t earn from Toll.
It uses YOUR money to make good
infrastructure available for YOU.

28. Different types of Toll Collection methods
TOT - Toll Operate Transfer model
BOT - Build Operate and Transfer Annuity Model
EPC - Engineering, Procurement and Construction Model
HAM - HybridAnnuity Model - combination of BOT & EPC

29. Tolls are collected across all the
developed nations across the
world to fuel new infrastructure
and maintain the existing ones.
In the US alone, toll is collected
on an auction basis i.e more the
traffic, more the toll.
Quick fact:

30. As a responsible citizen who pays taxes,
the government only expects the
citizenry to realise what goes on in the
background and act responsibly.

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