Tax by vehicle weight not engine size

DURING the 55th anniversary dinner of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Car Dealers and Credit Companies Association on Jan 13, Transport Minister Anthony Loke disclosed that road tax acquisition will be digitalised to replace the current practice of displaying stickers on windscreens (“Better road tax mechanism in the works, says Loke”, The Star, Jan 14; online at bit.ly/star_roadtax).

In one fell swoop, many problems associated with physical road tax stickers that are easily damaged will be relegated to history. Digitalisation should also be extended to commercial vehicle permits that are printed on paper and kept in rental cars, taxis, buses, lorries, etc.

But no system can be foolproof, and Malaysians do not lack ingenuity in beating the system. In time to come, many identical vehicles could be fitted with the same registration number plate and used in different states. And these vehicles could belong to the same or different owners. The ruse would only be exposed when a police report is made after an accident, or innocent owners protest and prove they were not in the state when a summons was issued for driving or parking offences. Hopefully, fail-safe methods will be incorporated.

In any case, I believe that the archaic system of how road tax is calculated should be discarded and replaced by a fairer method using plain common sense. If tax is based on usage of public roads, then the rate should be based on vehicle weight on the road, not engine capacity. This is more so when today’s turbocharged small engines can be more powerful than naturally aspirated engines that are twice the size. And what will be the power generated by batteries and hydrogen-powered fuel cells used in hybrid and fully electric vehicles?

Basing the tax rate on power generated by internal combustion engines and batteries would be fairer than using just the cubic centimetre size of engines. The most equitable method, however, is to base road tax rates on vehicle weight as that has a direct impact on the wear and tear on roads.

This is far from rocket science, but the authorities have long been sitting pretty, with little urgency to change things for the better. And this is not the first time I and many others have brought up a vehicle weight-based road tax. I’ve had letters on this matter published in 2017 and 2018 and twice in 2021.

Hopefully this time, not only will road tax acquisition be digitalised, but how rates are calculated will also be changed from engine size to vehicle weight. Instead of waiting ages to take incremental steps, the Road Transport Department ought to make a quantum leap on all fronts and not be bogged down by legacy issues.

YS CHAN

Kuala Lumpur