Cars affordable because of ERP Mon, Aug 18, 2008
http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20080818-82990.html
An increased number of households now own cars, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
There are now 430,000 households who own cars, as compared to 320,000 households in 2000. This is due to lower vehicle taxes, a move made possible by the increase in ERP charges, he said.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday night, PM Lee explained that government taxes on cars have been reduced despite the increased ERP charges - a move that saves commuters money because they pay less road tax.
"The trouble is," said PM Lee, "people may not realise or remember how much road tax they are paying, or even worse, how much road tax they paid last year."
PM Lee elaborates on the ERP charges in the transcript below:
"In 2000, how much do you think it costs to buy a Toyota Corolla all in? $110,000. This year, same car, in fact the salesman will tell you it's a better car,
the price has gone down to $64,000. And this is mainly because the government taxes have come down, because the OMV has remained about the same. It's about $19,000 before, now it's $16,000 now. So basically, the government taxes have made the cars a lot more affordable. So the result of this is that there are more cars around us. You can see it, HDB car parks getting more crowded. You can see it on the roads. And therefore because of this, this year we've had to increase ERP charges.
"I know many people are upset by these ERP charges but we have to see the bigger picture because in fact, the ERP charges are enabling us to benefit Singaporeans so as to reduce the burden on you and to enable more Singaporeans to own cars. So when we have to make the adjustment this year, we considered it very carefully, how could we do this without increasing the burden on Singaporeans? And we worked out an ERP package, not just raising the ERP or putting more gantries but reducing road tax at the same time so as to offset it and overall to bring down the cost.
"Let me show you how this works. Before the package, let's take the 1.6L car again. Probably a Toyota but could be another one. Before the package, the ERP was $122, after the package, it's gone up, nearly $200. So it looks very frightening but in fact if you consider the road tax which you have to pay and which we have adjusted, you used to pay $874 of the road tax and now it's come down to $744. So the net effect is that you have a saving, in fact you are saving money rather than out-of-pocket because of the ERP changes. How much? Let's do the sums.
"ERP increase, $76. Road tax reduction, $130. Net savings, $54. So overall, there's a net saving from this package. So we have not increased the burden on Singaporeans, we've actually reduced the burden on Singaporeans by some. The trouble is people may not realise or remember how much road tax they are paying, or even worse, how much road tax they paid last year. And sometimes they may not be the one to pay it.
"I asked one driver how much road tax she paid because she was complaining about the gantries she went through and the beeps which she heard. So she thought a while and then she said to me, I'm not sure, I have to ask my husband. Because she didn't pay the bill, her husband paid the bill and I'm not sure even when the husband paid the bill, he noticed that it was smaller this year. And furthermore, when the husband pays the bill, there's no beep, beep. But when the wife drives the car, each gantry, one beep. So, that is a problem and I think that's part of the reason why people are not happy. And so we have to draw the connections and get people to understand that actually the middle-income Singaporeans have benefited from government policies."
A Toyota Altis inclusive of COE cost more than $110k now leh. :oIo:
https://www.borneomotors.com.sg/asp/ToyotaPriceListPassenger.aspx
