Taxing Foreign Vehicles

I guess the government must be really desperate to consider imposing a charge of RM20 for each foreign vehicle so that they cannot enjoy the subsidised fuel.

Basically we are dealing with mainly vehicles from Singapore and Thailand. Singapore already has a fuel policy on their cars exiting Singapore – the infamous three-quarter tank rule so that they do not lose out on fuel sales and duties.

This means that any Singaporean who makes a trip over to Malaysia merely for fuel can top up perhaps 20 liters of petrol. To make calculations simple, let us assume that is equal to RM20 of subsidy lost. That same Singaporean is not going to brave the Causeway jams and not come in for some food and entertainment and what’s fun if you have to do it all by yourself?

Quite likely he will bring in some buddies or the family and they will probably spend perhaps RM200 on food, shopping and entertainment. Of course with the RM20 fee, not all will stop coming to JB but definitely some will stop.

Before we deal JB business a fatal blow with this RM20 tax, we should follow the Singapore restrictions on free entry. Singapore now allows Malaysian cars free entry after 5pm up to 2 am and all weekend, as their own experience must have shown that most Malaysians stopped/reduced their trips into Singapore. Do you think they lifted the restrictions out of charity?

This is one decision that the Johor government should make and not KL as most people in KL are only remotely aware and can’t be bothered about JB.

For Malaysians who work in Singapore and have to drive Singapore registered cars, this will be another burden and some may decide to live in Singapore. This means that another house is going to be left vacant and JB’s economy will shrink by at least RM2000 per month for each person who decides to move.

My suggestion is that we reciprocate Singapore’s arrangement on restricted entry and for Malaysians who work in Singapore, they have the option to pay the RM20 fee or just pay perhaps a special road tax of say RM600 per year or RM320 for six months to the JPJ.

This will definitely make collections easy and reduce the time at the collection booths. Already the time waiting is not a pleasant experience.

photo:http://web.mit.edu/sdey/www/pictures/My%20Pictures/MALAYSIA/malaysia1.htm