Survey on car mileage-based tax

[weixiaowei2525]

What are your views on a car mileage tax in Singapore, in place of COE? Instead of charging drivers a high “ownership tax”, a mileage tax charges drivers based on distance travelled. A mileage tax could potentially increase awareness of the environmental an congestion impacts of driving.

 

To explore the possibility of this usage-base tax, we created a short survey to help us understand your thoughts on this. The survey takes around 15 minutes to finish. We really appreciate your feedback.

 

To begin the survey, click here: http://goo.gl/glhTih

 

If there is any question or concern about the study/survey, please feel free to email sutdvehiclesurvey [at] gmail.com.

 

Thank you for your inputs!

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2014 by weixiaowei2525

[Eyke]

already have lah, is called petrol tax...

[weixiaowei2525]

already have lah, is called petrol tax...

 

petrol tax is a bit different though, it charges fuel consumed. Varies cause of fuel economy.

[Eyke]

 

petrol tax is a bit different though, it charges fuel consumed. Varies cause of fuel economy.

 

bias for fuel-efficiency is good.

[Watwheels]

The Europe's method of road tax based on carbon footprint makes more sense. Ppl would choose more efficient cars.

 

But in sgp the authorities wants to kerb car population. So whatever they come up with makes no sense what so ever as long as it controls the car population.

 

The mileage based tax will just make them more busy and tedious to monitor and police the rule.

 

My honest opinion is don't waste your time.

[Blackyv]

Chialat... You work for lta?.. Just to collect data to 'justify" the new policy? .. Final draft of the policy done? Broucher printed already and ready to send out?..Hehehe.. It's coming I presume when the satellite erp tracking system is done..

[Achee]

What are your views on a car mileage tax in Singapore, in place of COE? Instead of charging drivers a high “ownership tax”, a mileage tax charges drivers based on distance travelled. A mileage tax could potentially increase awareness of the environmental an congestion impacts of driving.

 

The gahmen is already building infrastructure to prepare charging car usage using GPS technology.

 

By then, every inch of the road used will be taxed.

 

However, this system is not meant to replace COE but possibly ERP

[Thaiyotakamli]

Like that can buy lambo cheaper and put at home drive only in weekend. People buy 5 lambo at once, u dunno how f*cking rich singaporean is

[Wt_know]

buy 5 cars must have 5 carpark lots hor ... in the future 1 lot = $1M like HK ... lol

Edited June 29, 2014 by Wt_know

[Mcf777]

U couldnt find yr answers at vag. Not trying yr luck at mcf?

 

Whats the point of having survey and in the end, our smart scholar gave out another sets of bulls rules.

[OmOm]

Part of a letter to the Minister of Transport in the middle of 2013:

------------------------------

The recent property cooling measures, in particular the TDSR policy change, have started working to curtail run-away property prices.

However car prices remain high and this keeps inflation numbers up. One main reason for this is the high COE prices.

Although the changes to car loan tenures and quantums have been effected a few months ago, we can see from recent COE biddings that liquidity remains strong in the system and consumer fears of further COE cost increases are driving the bidding amounts up.

Given that COE prices are artificially pushing car prices higher as a result of strong liquidity and fear factors, high inflation numbers cannot be avoided as long as car prices include COEs.

I would like to propose replacing the COE system with an alternative. Before I come to that, I would like to share my perspectives on car-ownership and car-utilisation.

The emphasis by policy-makers has always been to limit car ownership. This is based on the seemingly direct relationship between car-ownership and the volume of traffic in the road network. The more cars being owned, the higher the volume of traffic on the roads.

Cars are always in demand here. They form an integral part of the Singapore dream - car ownership is a mark of "success" for the individual and his family. Much as we may want to change that, the perception is something fostered over many decades and cannot be changed overnight.

As long as this perception remains, regardless of how efficient public transport becomes, many will continue to aspire to own cars.

This aspiration is also fueled by fears that cars may become unaffordable one day. This translates to higher and higher COE prices in spite of cooling measures implemented to help borrowers avoid excessive borrowing.

Thus, it is likely that no matter how many rounds of tweaks are done to the regulations and guidelines pertaining car loans, people will continue to rush for the finite supply of COEs and pushing prices (and consequently inflation) up in the process.

Road congestion is an immediate concern. It not only negatively impacts the psychology of road-users (and, accordingly, productivity in school/work); there are substantial albeit intangible costs to the economy when road-users are unable to get to school or work in time.

Resolving road congestion is therefore of paramount importance and tackling the roots of road congestion is crucial.

Car ownership does not directly lead to high road utilisation and congestion. Car usage is the key culprit. The Transport Ministry has already begun working on mechanisms that help reduce car usage (better public transport, higher ERP fees, a more ubiquitous means of reducing traffic across all roads using GPS-based ERP, etc).

However, there are limits to the effectiveness to mechanisms such as higher ERP fees. Additionally, these measures cost the government politically because road-users become unhappy with the double set of costs where ownership and usage are concerned. It is not a laughing matter when a car owner who has paid $80k for his COE and $8 per trip to work still has to contend with crawling traffic on the way to work every morning.

My suggestion is that we reduce the dimensionality of the situation. Focus on car usage instead of car ownership. This reduces the inherent frustration from the double set of costs that I mentioned earlier and reduces the political damage suffered by the government.

The GPS-based ERP is a good step forward but as the chinese saying goes, "distant water cannot extinguish fires that are next to us". We need a solution that can work right here and right now to tackle road usage.

Car usage (and consequently road usage) can be measured in the most conventional way. The higher the odometer reading, the more a given vehicle has been used.

All cars can be required to go for yearly inspections and a tax is levied upon the car owner based on the distance recorded in his car's odometer. The higher the consumption (mileage) in the last one year, the higher the taxation.

This encourages car owners to plan their trips and limit their mileage.

The necessary supporting legislation can be passed to make tampering with odometers an offence. This helps to reduce the fear that many buyers of resale cars face: odometer-tampering. Technological mechanisms can be built into cars to prevent or log tampering attempts.

An example of how the suggested mechanism would work:

a. John owns a 2005 Ford Focus with 60,000 km on its odometer. He goes for inspection on 30 Sep 2013, the anniversary of his vehicle registration date (30 Sep 2005).

b. The inspection centre records his mileage.

c. He uses the car for 25,000 km between 30 Sep 2013 and 30 Sep 2014.

d. On 30 Sep 2014, he goes for inspection and the inspection centre records his mileage as 85,000 km.

e. This information is sent to IRAS and the necessary levies are applied to his usage e.g. $30 per 1,000 km and he is allowed to pay over 12 months (similar to income tax).

With this, the COE system can be demolished as the primary means of reducing road congestion would be to restrict car usage. This has the added benefit of shifting road users towards public transport even though they may be car owners.

The current road tax scheme with the relevant penalties for old cars can remain to keep the car population young.

To summarise, by having such a system and doing away with the COE scheme, these are the benefits:

a. government benefits politically by reducing the frustration arising from taxation in both car ownership (COE) and car usage (ERP)

b. individuals/families get to buy their cars at much lower costs (since COEs now form a large percentage of car prices)

c. car owners limit their car usage based on their needs and are implicitly motivated to use public transport

d. with lower car prices, inflation figures for the Singapore economy fall drastically thereby improving the potence of the arsenal of economy-boosting tools that MAS has

e. car mileage numbers are logged yearly and prevent unscrupulous dealers/sellers from tampering with odometers and cheating buyers

f. taxation tiers for the new scheme can be adjusted flexibly on year to year basis to tighten/loosen car usage as infrastructure improves

g. cars that are lightly used are good for more than ten years of life; these do not have to be scrapped after 10 years as required under the present COE scheme, reducing environmental damage

For existing cars, the remaining COE value can be converted into a rebate that is used to offset the annual car usage levies

------------------------------

What are your views on a car mileage tax in Singapore, in place of COE? Instead of charging drivers a high “ownership tax”, a mileage tax charges drivers based on distance travelled. A mileage tax could potentially increase awareness of the environmental an congestion impacts of driving.

 

To explore the possibility of this usage-base tax, we created a short survey to help us understand your thoughts on this. The survey takes around 15 minutes to finish. We really appreciate your feedback.

 

To begin the survey, click here: http://goo.gl/glhTih

 

If there is any question or concern about the study/survey, please feel free to email sutdvehiclesurvey [at] gmail.com.

 

Thank you for your inputs!

 

 

 

[Vhtfhwlego]

There is already mileage tax in forms of Taxi & bus.

Personal car also want to mileage tax?

 

If Singapore 1 day became over populated like China, will there be sperm tax & egg tax even one not giving birth?

 

Wanna drive, drive.

Wanna drive cannot stand the jams, then just too bad.

Don't let the rest of population by implementing something stupid.

Just like the more budget car owners gave so much suggestion (loan, BHP cap), in the end, gov come out even better solution, get rid of these drivers to free others.

[Wt_know]

the keyword is tax ... tax is the mother of all solution .... lol

 

whether call it mileage tax or simi-tax ... one will eventually pop up

 

There is already mileage tax in forms of Taxi & bus.
Personal car also want to mileage tax?

If Singapore 1 day became over populated like China, will there be sperm tax & egg tax even one not giving birth?

Wanna drive, drive.
Wanna drive cannot stand the jams, then just too bad.
Don't let the rest of population by implementing something stupid.
Just like the more budget car owners gave so much suggestion (loan, BHP cap), in the end, gov come out even better solution, get rid of these drivers to free others.

 

Edited June 29, 2014 by Wt_know

[Super7]

Like that can buy lambo cheaper and put at home drive only in weekend. People buy 5 lambo at once, u dunno how f*cking rich singaporean is

 

If he drives his 5 lambos on weekends or once in a blue moon and only one at a time, he's not adding to traffic congestions, ie he's done nothing wrong in owning 5 or 50 lambos.. (provided he has his own parking lots and doesnt clog up mscp etc)

[Voodooman]

$50 at some WS can lower your usage tax by several folds.

 

Anyway, some could travel 50k km a year but 80% up north while another clock 30k km in mostly congested central area, it doesn't make sense to replace ERP with this, ERP is more effective in curbing congestion.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Voodooman

[Kangadrool]

Agree. Why should one pays mileage tax if he/she's travelling to other countries?

 

$50 at some WS can lower your usage tax by several folds.

Anyway, some could travel 50k km a year but 80% up north while another clock 30k km in mostly congested central area, it doesn't make sense to replace this with ERP, which is more effective in curbing congestion.

 

[Thaiyotakamli]

 

If he drives his 5 lambos on weekends or once in a blue moon and only one at a time, he's not adding to traffic congestions, ie he's done nothing wrong in owning 5 or 50 lambos.. (provided he has his own parking lots and doesnt clog up mscp etc)

 

But then there will be shortages of carpark lot. Everyone in hdb own 2 or more cars. Sekali on weekend they all drive out their cars, GG.

 

 

Moreover there are many loopholes example like tampering the mileage. So as a gahmen, they would prefer a hard cool cash upfront which is COE

[Vega]

Chialat... You work for lta?.. Just to collect data to 'justify" the new policy? .. Final draft of the policy done? Broucher printed already and ready to send out?..Hehehe.. It's coming I presume when the satellite erp tracking system is done..

Maybe TS is ah Lui in disguise.