Road Tolls: Maintenance of the Common Good

(Baonghean) - On September 11, 2014, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular 133 replacing Circular 197 on Guidelines for the collection, payment, management and use of road use fees per vehicle. Nghe An Department of Finance advised the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the People's Council to amend and supplement Resolution No. 93 of the Provincial People's Council to promptly adjust and comply with the new regulations of the Government.

Nguyen Hien Street (Vinh City) was renovated from the Road Maintenance Fund. Photo: TA

In fact, road use fees are still a fairly "new" type of fee. The toll collection subjects are divided into two preliminary groups: the group using cars (generally called cars, tractors, trailers, semi-trailers pulled by cars, tractors and similar vehicles); the group using motorbikes (generally called two-wheeled motorbikes, three-wheeled motorbikes, motorbikes and similar vehicles). Through the survey, it shows that the current common situation is that the collection of car fees is done well; while the collection of motorbike fees is low.

According to the report on motorbike toll collection in 2013 and 2014, the whole province reached 47.61% (as of November 2014). The district with the lowest rate was Quy Chau (29.51%), the highest was Do Luong (63.66%). It is worth noting that the toll collection rate in 2014 in some districts, cities and towns decreased significantly compared to 2013, for example, in Vinh City it decreased by more than half. Thus, after 2 years of the Government issuing Decree 18 and the Ministry of Finance issuing Circular 133, people still have not formed the habit and awareness of complying with road toll collection. What is the reason?

Studying the content of Circular 197 (and later Circular 133), we can draw out the difference between the collection of fees for the two groups of subjects based on the unit and the method of collection and payment of fees. The collection of fees for automobiles is carried out during the inspection cycle. After completing the collection and payment of fees, the vehicle owner will be issued a road use fee stamp by the inspection agency corresponding to the payment time. Meanwhile, the collection of fees for motorbikes is the responsibility of the People's Committee of the commune, ward, and town. The fee collection document is a receipt according to the form issued with the Circular of the Ministry of Finance. Mr. Nguyen Hoang Manh - Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee, Vinh City said: "Complying with the payment of road use fees is the responsibility of the people.

The payment of fees at the block and hamlet meeting halls for motorbike users is mainly due to the spirit of self-awareness, and is not legally binding like the periodic registration of cars. In addition, there is also a point that needs to be shared: the implementation of road use fee collection is not carried out at the same time as other fees and responsibilities, but at the end of the year when households have many expenses, so people's awareness of paying fees is still reluctant. As of November 2014, the amount of fees collected by Vinh Tan ward has only reached 15,281,200 VND out of the total estimated fee of 261,000,000 VND (rounded), or 9.06% of the plan. This shows that the awareness and responsibility of the majority of people are still limited, and have not yet built awareness of complying with State regulations. This is also one of the lowest numbers in the announcement of Vinh City People's Committee sent to 25 wards and communes on December 4, 2014.

Faced with this issue, each citizen needs to clearly understand why we have to pay fees, and what purpose does the collected fees serve? That is a necessary source of revenue to enhance the responsibility of each citizen in exploiting and preserving roads invested by the budget or borrowed from abroad. More importantly, that source of fees will serve the maintenance, repair and upkeep of the roads. In particular, according to the new circular, the Road Maintenance Fund is advised by the Department of Finance to allocate 60% to supplement the budget for reinvestment in road construction and 40% will be allocated by the province to invest in the construction of rural roads, within the framework of the new rural construction program.

Thus, road use fees are promoted to play a positive role in the development process, both building new routes and repairing damaged and degraded roads... Mr. Ho Nghia Duc - Deputy Head of Price and Public Asset Management Department, Department of Finance said that, based on Decree 56 of the Government amending and supplementing Decree 18; Circular 133 of the Ministry of Finance replacing Circular 197, the Department of Finance will advise the province to amend the distribution and use of road use fees appropriately as mentioned above. Through that, it is possible to encourage funds for the development and maintenance of the transport infrastructure system.

Ben Thuy Bridge Toll Station (Vinh City) Photo: LT

It can be seen that, in order for decrees and circulars - especially when referring to a completely new issue, when implemented into life, the sectors and localities need to specifically and in detail propagate to the people: what is the main content, why is it necessary... Besides, to apply correctly to the right subjects, correct content, process and correct purpose, there needs to be transparency and clarity in the regulatory documents as well as the implementation in practice. What is more important is the responsibility, awareness and coordination of different parts in the "chain", including: managers - people - inspectors and regulators. Each person voluntarily fulfills his/her duties and functions, which is together building a disciplined, orderly and progressive society.

To overcome the situation of motorcycle users not complying with paying road use fees, there are two solutions: binding responsibility and promoting self-awareness. Binding responsibility here means that it is necessary to have and strictly implement sanctions for those who do not pay road use fees. In fact, there is Circular 186 issued by the Ministry of Finance on December 5, 2013 on Guidelines for implementing administrative sanctions in the field of fee and charge management. In which there is a provision clearly stating: "Fine from 01 to 03 times the amount of fraudulent fees, charges, and evading payment of fees and charges according to regulations. The maximum fine is 50,000,000 VND". However, sanctions for cases of non-compliance with paying road use fees for motorcycles still do not have a specific plan and have not been implemented decisively. This is also a shortcoming that people in many localities have reflected, causing the legal weight of the road toll collection policy to be significantly reduced, proportional to the trend of declining compliance awareness of the people.

To overcome the above situation, it is necessary to solve the two biggest shortcomings: the availability of toll collection documents and the main function of the entity to manage, inspect and punish violations. There is a suggestion that a form of card such as a vehicle insurance card should be issued, or in the form of a stamp attached to the vehicle such as a registration stamp for cars should be issued.

The difficulty of this solution is that the above types of documents have so far been under the authority of a number of specific agencies and units, while the collection and payment of fees for motorbikes is managed by the commune people's committee, which is more of a civil factor in terms of law. However, because this is a new type of fee, it is necessary to introduce new appropriate administrative sanctions and procedures for control and management to form a "discipline" and stable standards. In terms of form, the collection and payment of fees documents are similar to the mandatory documents that come with the vehicle, so the inspection and punishment can also be assigned to the traffic police force.

The solutions proposed are only temporary to overcome the situation of "laziness" in paying road use fees, while the more sustainable solution is nothing other than mobilizing and propagating people to raise their sense of responsibility. It is necessary to actively explain so that people understand that the fee collected for each vehicle is a contribution to making the roads we travel on every day smoother, more convenient and more sustainable.

Thuc Anh