Committee of Supply Speech by Mr Seng Han Thong

The Government has reduced the annual special tax paid by the private diesel cars owners.  The message to the private car owners is clear: please convert to use EURO V compliant diesel car.  If the policy objective is to reduce carbon emission by diesel powered cars, the Government should send the same message to the heavy users of diesel powered cars – taxi companies.

The same special tax incentive should apply to Euro V compliant cars which are registered as taxis.  This would make our taxis greener and most importantly, also lower the annual operating cost of taxi drivers who are paying for all the taxes imposed on taxis through their daily taxi rentals.

In short, taxi should also enjoy the 70% reduction in the special tax.  This will reduce the operating cost of taxi drivers as higher tax means higher rental to the taxi drivers.