The legislature’s Transportation Committee on Thursday voted to schedule another meeting to discuss whether the government should start charging car drivers a vehicle fuel tax based on the amount of gasoline they use, as committee members failed again to reach a consensus on an issue that has been debated for years.
The Highway Act (公路法) states that motor vehicle owners are required to pay a vehicle fuel tax every year, with the amount depended on the vehicles engine displacement — making it a fixed fee applicable to all vehicle owners, regardless of the distance driven that year.
Some people think that the tax should be based on the “beneficiary pays principle” and paid when people buy gasoline, while others believe asking drivers of electric cars to pay the tax is unreasonable, as they do not consume any fuel.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has been hesitant to change the way vehicle fuel tax is charged.
Many drivers in the 1960s turned to underground oil suppliers for fuel to avoid paying fuel tax when the government introduced a fuel tax at the pump, the ministry said.
Not only did the policy lead to confusion in the petrochemicals retail market, but it led to a shortfall in the highway maintenance fund, which was partially funded by fuel taxes, the ministry said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲), one of the lawmakers who proposed that car drivers pay fuel taxes at the pump, said his proposal would reduce the cost of collecting taxes.
He said that many advanced countries around the world have already adopted the same policy and asked why the ministry continued to deem it unfeasible.
The government should start enforcing the policy next year and apply it to private cars first, he said, adding that the tax should be renamed the “road usage fee,” because that is how the funds are used.
DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) opposed a change, saying that drivers should be charged based on the burden that their driving habits impose on road maintenance.
Drivers should be charged based on their driving distance, because it is the easiest way to determine a reasonable charge for road usage, he said, adding that it is the ministry’s responsibility to ensure that drivers do not tamper with odometers.
It is reasonable for gas retailers, which are regulated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, to collect the air pollution fee from consumers, as the use of fuel generates pollution, but Lin’s proposal would ask gas stations to collect the road usage fee as well, which should be collected by MOTC, Chung said.
The transportation ministry has to consider if it is legitimate for another government agency to collect the levy on its behalf, he added.
Meanwhile, counties with less-developed public transport systems should be charged less road usage fees, as residents depend heavily on the use of private motor vehicles, he said.
DPP Legislator Cheng Yun-pen (鄭運鵬) said that he was against changing the title of the fuel tax to road usage tax, because it would be like punishing people living in remote areas, who rely on the use of private vehicles for their everyday needs.
The government collects approximately NT$46 billion (US$1.52 billion) each year, which is used to fund road maintenance, MOTC Deputy Minister Chi Wen-chung (祈文中) said.
The ministry is scheduled to submit a research report in October on the potential issues that would occur if a new scheme is implemented, including whether it the tax would generate reliable revenue to fund road maintenance or cause public transport operators to raise ticket prices.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai