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The Union Government could consider tax exemptions for donations routed to projects that help improve road safety.
This is the suggestion of International Road Federation (IRF), a not-for-profit organisation. The projects could be identified by the Government's highway agencies.
With 1.33 lakh deaths due to road accidents in 2010 and 50 lakh injuries, the economic loss on this account is estimated at 1.5 to 2 per cent of the GDP.
Encourage private effort at promoting road safety by extending tax benefits to companies and individuals that contribute and spend on road-safety projects, IRF stated in a release.
IRF suggests: “An assessee shall be allowed deduction from his income of an amount equal to the expenditure incurred for the purpose of road safety measures under schemes and programmes approved by the Central Government, the National Highways Authority of India and the Highways Departments of the State Governments.”
At present, tax breaks could be on the lines of incentives to expenditure on promotion of family planning and prevention of HIV-AIDS under the Direct Tax Code. Or, it could also be like the tax breaks available to assessees under Section 80GGA of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 available to certain donations for scientific research or rural development, it stated.
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