The announcement on 31st Dec 06 by our Deputy Prime Minister that the road tax for all privately-owned cars would be reduced effective 1st Jan 07 is most untimely and unhelpful, particularly for thousands of car owners who had renewed this year’s road tax prior to the announcement.

To those early birds, getting the refunds will be a hassle as refunds can only be obtained at Road Transport Department (RTD) or their branch offices upon submission of various documents and forms.

To compound the problem, post offices will only be able to renew road tax at the new rates effective from Feb 15.

As post offices have been the main avenue for thousands of car owners to renew road tax, it is expected that all RTD offices will be fully congested from now until after Feb 15 with private car owners who want to renew the road tax and those who want to claim refunds.

The impromptu announcement is going to cause a lot of inconveniences to car owners and havoc in RTD offices.

One wonders why the decision can’t be made at least two months in advance so that the required infrastructure can be put in place for the convenience of all concerned.

Note:

An edited version of the above was published in The Star on 04/01/07.