�mypaper】27/02/2013
The National Taxi Association (NTA) has strongly urged taxi operators to pass on the savings from a road-tax rebate in the Budget to taxi hirers.
"The amount will help greatly in relieving some of the financial burden that comes with rising business-operation costs for this group of self-employed taxi drivers," said NTA president Wee Boon Kim in a statement yesterday.
In his Budget statement on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced that commercial-vehicle owners will be granted a one-year 30 per cent road-tax rebate.
This covers goods vehicles, buses and taxis, and will take effect on July 1. It is expected to yield savings of about $46 million for businesses.
In 2009, a similar one-year 30 per cent road-tax rebate on commercial vehicles was extended during that year's Budget.
Mr Wee said NTA was pleased that all taxi operators decided to pass on the full savings to taxi hirers in 2009, and that he hoped that this "goodwill" can continue.
On Monday, Mr Tharman also announced a tweaking of the certificate-of-entitlement (COE) system for commercial vehicles.
Currently, owners can renew their COEs for only five years with no further extension, or pay more for a 10-year renewal, after their vehicles reach the end of the 10-year COE lifespan.
With the change, owners who choose to renew their COEs for five years will be allowed to extend their COEs further for another five years.