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MOTC asks to link new tax, fuel fees

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) suggested yesterday that vehicle fuel fees be included in the proposed energy tax bill, which has yet to pass the legislature.

Currently, car owners are required to pay vehicle fuel fees once a year, while owners of commercial vehicles have to pay the fee once every four months.

The ministry is worried that the energy tax would lead to a loss of revenue from fuel fees.

Department of Railways and Highways director-general Jack Hsu (�?h) said yesterday that the Ministry of Finance would be in charge of collecting the proposed energy tax.

“We hope that if the energy tax is collected in tandem with the vehicle fuel fee, part of the revenue would be allotted to the MOTC as funds for road construction, maintenance and management,” he said.

Hsu said the above expenses cost the MOTC about NT$40 billion (US$1.3 billion) annually.

Hsu said that in the 1960s, vehicle fuel fees were included in the price of gasoline, but the policy lead to black market sales.

Hsu made the comments after lawmakers proposed an amendment that would classify truck and tour bus services as part of the mass transportation system, thereby exempting them from paying vehicle fuel fees.

The legislature’s Transportation Committee had been expected to review and pass the amendment on Monday. However, the committee chairman and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Chen Ken-te (陳根德) ruled that the bill required further negotiations.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said: “Without the revenues from the vehicle fuel charge, the MOTC is pretty much finished.”

Mao said the energy tax was aimed at industries, while the fuel fee was aimed at end users. Given the “catastrophic experiences” in the 1960s, the energy tax is the only convenient solution, he said.
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