Should we get rid of motorbikes?

If the proposal from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport is approved, starting next year, each motorbike will be charged a "road usage" fee ranging from 50,000 VND to 150,000 VND per year, depending on its engine capacity.

Nearly 6 million motorbike owners in Ho Chi Minh City will soon have to pay road usage fees - Photo: Diep Duc Minh

In fact, Hanoi has been collecting this fee since August 1, 2013, in 29 districts, counties, and towns. With 4.5 million motorbikes, 55 billion VND was collected in 2013, reaching approximately 21% of the target. However, according to a resolution of the Hanoi People's Council, wards and towns are allowed to retain 10%, and communes 20%, to cover the costs of organizing the collection. The collection of fees from each household is handled by neighborhood groups, who then submit the collected fees to the ward tax officials. However, wards have to employ additional staff to handle statistics and verification, leading to a rather cumbersome collection system.

While the revenue collected is not substantial, the time required for implementation and the workforce needed to maintain the fee collection operation are enormous.

"Since it's already included in the gasoline price, why collect it directly?"

In Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Transport proposed a fee of 50,000 VND/year for motorcycles with engine capacity up to 100 cm3 (a reduction of 10,000 VND compared to the previous proposal); 120,000 VND/year for motorcycles between 100 cm3 and 175 cm3; 150,000 VND/year for motorcycles over 175 cm3; and 2.16 million VND/year for four-wheeled cargo vehicles with single-cylinder engines.

Responding to Thanh Nien newspaper, Mr. Bui Xuan Cuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Transport, explained that Ho Chi Minh City is one of three provinces and cities that have not yet implemented road usage fees for motorbikes according to the Government's decree. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City is facing a serious shortage of funds for road maintenance and repair, currently only meeting 20% ​​of the needs, especially in suburban and rural areas. According to Mr. Cuong, if the proposal is approved at the City People's Council meeting in September 2014, the Department of Transport proposes to implement fee collection from January 1, 2015. As of early 2014, Ho Chi Minh City had nearly 5.8 million registered motorbikes. This does not include more than 1 million motorbikes from other provinces circulating daily in the city. If the lowest fee is set at 50,000 VND/year/vehicle, an additional 290 billion VND would be allocated annually for road repair, maintenance, and repair.

Meanwhile, local authorities at the ward and commune levels have expressed concerns that they will "not be able to handle it." The Chairman of Da Phuoc Commune (Binh Chanh District), Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, explained: "The commune has about 4,000 households. When the collection is assigned to the commune, if people react negatively, they will react to the commune, not to the city. Currently, all fees are collected through the people, making it difficult for the commune to implement. Furthermore, the commune's staff does not have the necessary personnel to collect this fee; if they take on additional duties, they won't be able to handle it. As for implementing this down to the hamlet level, the experience from collecting non-agricultural land use tax has also been unsuccessful, because the staff at the hamlet level do not receive a salary, only a few hundred thousand dong per month for living expenses. If we assign this task, they will do it, but if everything is delegated down, I'm afraid they won't be able to handle it."

Mr. Tran Phuoc Hung, Secretary and Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Huu Ward (District 9), said that so far the ward has only compiled statistics on the number of motorbikes in the area while awaiting instructions from higher authorities. Although no fees have been collected yet, during the survey process, many residents questioned ward officials about why, after previously including the road usage fee in gasoline prices, they are now demanding a direct fee per vehicle. Many families own 3-4 motorbikes, so the amount they would have to pay would be considerable.

The burden should not be placed on the people.

Citing the high cost and time-consuming nature of collecting road maintenance fees for motorcycles, while the amount collected is meager, many National Assembly deputies, during a briefing on the Ordinance on Fees and Charges held by the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee in April, proposed that the Government consider abolishing this fee. According to a report from the Ministry of Transport, in 2013, the Road Maintenance Fund collected 5,500 billion VND from automobiles, while the projected revenue from motorcycles was 2,600 billion VND, but only 500 billion VND (approximately 20%) was collected. Many argued that motorcycles are a common and essential means of transportation for the people; if the fee is not substantial and the management and organizational costs are too high and disproportionate, perhaps it should be discontinued.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Quang Toan (Hanoi University of Transport), not only Hanoi, but many localities that have implemented road usage fees share the same reality: the amount collected is small, while the costs of the collection system are quite large and complex. “The road usage fee for motorcycles is stipulated in the law; if it is abolished, the law must be amended. But instead of abolishing it immediately, the collection could be postponed, similar to many unreasonable taxes that cause inconvenience to the people. The government has already postponed the collection,” Dr. Toan commented.

Transportation expert Pham Sanh argues that the projected revenue from Ho Chi Minh City's proposed project, costing only 300 billion VND per year, is like "a drop in the ocean" compared to the city's economic scale. This is a waste of time but will not yield significant results. The government should reconsider this matter.

Dr. Nguyen Van Thu, a transportation expert, also shared that right from the start of the implementation, he expressed the view that fees should not be collected from motorbikes. Motorcyclists are often low-income earners, with a significant proportion being working-class people. Furthermore, many people are frustrated by having to pay fees per vehicle, while some motorbikes are allowed to be used and others are not.

According to Thanh Nien newspaper