Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Do Away With The Road Tax

One of the stranger things about owning a vehicle in Singapore is that all Singapore-registered vehicles must have a valid road tax (also known as a vehicle licence) at all times. Before you can renew the road tax however, you need to have valid insurance for the vehicle for the full period of the new road tax and sometimes, you need to bring the vehicle for an inspection.

This is something that catch a lot of foreigners out because to them it's strange to renew their insurance before the expiry and it's even stranger that they have to go for an inspection once every two years. In some countries, there's no such thing as an inspection. Maybe that's there reason why the LTA is now loosing the strings on the road tax. 

I know a friend who says a friend of his got into an accident and was unable to renew his road tax due to financial problems. Nothing unusual so far; it's a common problem in Singapore due to the high cost of a car here. What's strange was that this person complained loudly against the late renewal of the road tax and it was successful. Not only that, he was told by the LTA officer that his appeal "will" be accepted even before he sent in the appeal.

I think that's great!

I always thought the idea of the road tax is kind of silly so if LTA can do away with it; that's wonderful news. If LTA is going to accept all appeals on late renewal of the road tax, doesn't it makes more sense to just get rid of the road tax altogether? I mean the idea of road tax is kind of useless in this time and age when everything is in a computer and with the high cost of cars in Singapore, I'm sure everyone will be glad of any savings they can get.

If the LTA is going to accept appeals on late renewal of road tax even before someone makes an appeal, then surely the road tax can't be that important right? Just get rid of it. It's better for everyone. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your friend is not alone. I also got my appeal for the road tax accepted. The LTA seen to accept a lot of these appeals nowadays. You're right in that the road tax should be gone. It's helps no one.

Ghost said...

My point exactly. Get rid of it since even the LTA do not seem to care that much about it. I mean with the COE so high now, it’s not as if they need the extra money.