After inflating the COE prices, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) yesterday (Dec 6) announced that vehicle registration taxes and other 24 car-related fees will be increased. Starting Dec 20, registration taxes will be increased 57% from S$140 to S$220, transfer fees will increase by 127% from S$11 to S$25 and lay-up vehicle fees to increase from S$5.35 to S$17.12.
The government board complained of “rising costs” but did not provide any statistic to back up their claim:
“The changes arose from a review of fees that are collected for administering vehicle services. From Dec 20, 24 out of 61 existing fees will be adjusted upwards, as these fees have largely remained unchanged for more than 10 years.”
In their propaganda article, 154th-ranking Straits Times interviewed the same person who frequently appeared in several Straits Times articles to promote the tax increase:
“Motorist Gay Eng Joo, 46, said: “Cars are big-ticket items here, so I don’t think these changes will make much of a difference to consumers.””
The Singapore government has been rapidly increasing taxes by huge margins since the announcement of a 30% water price increase. Speculations have linked Temasek Holdings’ and GIC’s losses to the tax increase, suggesting that the new taxes are to fund Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife’s investment losses.