Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner ReporterGovernment's decision to raise motor vehicle licensing fees by 50 per cent was inevitable, says financial analyst Dr Neville Swaby. Motor vehicle examination and other related fees are also to be increased.
The measure, which is expected to yield the Government $985 million, will take effect May 1. It comes at a time when motorists are burdened by high fuel costs and have to encounter pothole-afflicted roads.
However, Swaby, a finance and banking lecturer at the University of Technology, says the Government had no other option.
"What the Government gives to you, it is going to take it back in taxes. We have a free [tuition] and free health-care system," opines Swaby. "They could not go and increase the GCT (general consumption tax), so the only place they had to go, were motor vehicle owners ... There is nothing else that could be really looked at to substitute the taxes," he adds.
Informal sector
Swaby notes that the increase in licensing fees also gives the Government the opportunity to collect more revenue from the informal sector, which he thinks should make a greater contribution to financing the national budget.
"The motor vehicle licence fees is right across the sector, whether it is formal or informal, and that is a way of taking a little bit more from the informal sector," Swaby tells The Sunday Gleaner.
While he thinks more could be done to get more from that sector, Swaby believes the announcements Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw made during his Budget presentation last Thursday is indicative of the reform the Government needs to make in the collection of taxes.
"It's moderate, but it's a start," says Swaby.
ANNUAL MOTOR VEHICLE LICENCES
| Types of Vehicle | Existing | Proposed |
| $ | $ |
|
Motorcycles| Motorcycles exceeding 125 cc |
| but not exceeding 500 cc | 1,400 | 2,100 |
|
| Motorcycles exceeding 500 cc | 2,500 | 3,750 |
|
| Motor cars exceeding 1199 cc |
| but not exceeding 2999 cc | 4,000 | 6,000 |
|
| Motor cars exceeding 2999 cc, |
| but not exceeding 3999 cc | 8,000 | 12,000 |
|
| Motor cars exceeding 3999 cc | 13,500 | 20,250 |
|
Trucks and Tractors| Trucks and tractors not |
| exceeding 2540.115 kg | 4,000 | 6,000 |
|
| Trucks and tractors exceeding |
| 2,540.115 kg but not |
| exceeding 6,109.09kg | 8,000 | 12,000 |
|
| Trucks and tractors exceeding |
| 2540.11kg but not |
| exceeding 6,109.09 kg | 8,000 | 12,000 |
|
| Trucks and trailers |
| exceeding 6,109.09kg | 8,000 plus | 12,000 plus $100 |
| $100 per cwt | per cwt over 120 |
| 50.19 kg over | or 4,500 plus $100 |
| 6,109 kg | per 50.91 kg over |
| | 6,109 kg |
|
| Trailers | $75 per | 112.50 per |
| cwt/50.91 kg | cwt/50.91 kg |
|
LICENCES AND FEES
| Tax Type | Existing | Proposed |
| Substitute driver's licence | 1,300.00 | 2,300.00 |
| Private driver's licence | 1,550.00 | 3,000.00 |
| General driver's licence | 2,300.00 | 4,000.00 |
| Motor cycle licence | 1,300.00 | 2,300.00 |
| Motor vehicle certificate |
| of fitness fee | 1,500.00 | 2,500.00 |
|
Motor vehicle driver's licence
| examination fee | 1,000.00 | 1,800.00 |
| Motor vehicle transfer fee | 25.00 | 500.00 |
| Application for motor |
| vehicle title | 500.00 | 1,000.00 |
| M/V examination fee | 1,000.00 | 1,800.00 |
| Application of title | 1,000.00 | 1,800.00 |
|
M/V certificate of fitness
| Fee - any other vehicle | 1,500.00 | 2,500.00 |
|
M/V certificate of fitness
| fee - truck | 2,000.00 | 5,000.00 |
|
M/V cert. of fitness - PPV
| (L-form) | 1,000.00 | 1,800.00 |
| M/V cert. of fitness fee |
| - M/V defects were remedied | 2,000.00 | 3,500.00 |
