Pilot auction of car license plates: Should there be two starting prices of 20 and 40 million VND according to region?

Overview of the discussion session at Group 16 on the morning of October 26. Photo: Phan Hau

Draft Resolution on piloting the granting of the right to choose to use car license plates through auction, regulating the pilot granting of the right to choose to use car license plates through auction, including: license plates put up for auction; starting price, deposit, management and use of money collected from the auction; auction in case there is only one person registering to participate in the auction, one person participating in the auction, one bidder; rights and obligations of the auction winner, transferee, person given, gifted, inheritor of the auctioned license plate with the vehicle.

This resolution does not apply to license plates issued to vehicles purchased from the state budget, vehicles of military enterprises for economic purposes, automobiles for transport business, automobiles of projects, economic organizations in joint venture with foreign countries, automobiles of foreign organizations and enterprises, diplomatic missions, representative offices of international organizations and foreigners working in foreign and international agencies and organizations operating in Vietnam. At the discussion session, delegates basically agreed and highly agreed on the necessity of issuing the above resolution to meet people's needs, effectively exploit the number warehouse, and increase budget revenue.

Major General Tran Duc Thuan - Standing member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, delegate of Nghe An Delegation spoke at the discussion at Group 16. Photo: Quang Khanh

However, regarding the provisions in the Resolution, delegates still have many concerns. Major General Tran Duc Thuan - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee, delegate of Nghe An delegation suggested that the resolution's name should be changed to "Resolution of the National Assembly on pilot auction of car license plates" to be more concise and easier to understand.

General Thuan also agreed with the regulation: "Car registration procedures must be carried out at the vehicle registration agency to attach the license plate to the vehicle within 12 months from the date of issuance of the document confirming the winning license plate" to facilitate the auction winner because there are cases where the vehicle must be ordered from abroad and requires time to wait for the vehicle to be received. However, from the perspective of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, he also said that the Resolution should only stipulate a starting price of a license plate put up for auction at 40 million VND instead of stipulating that region 1 (including: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City) is 40 million VND; region 2 (including the remaining localities) is 20 million VND as in the draft Resolution.

Asking the question, how to define a beautiful license plate? Mr. Tran Nhat Minh - full-time delegate of Nghe An Delegation said that the number pool should be divided into two groups: First, the number pools that are widely recognized as beautiful numbers according to the general psychology of the people. Second, the number pool registered according to preferences, such as date, month, year of birth... And each number pool has a different starting price, especially the beautiful number pool that is recognized by society according to the general psychology needs to have a higher starting price than the number pool according to preferences.

Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Education and Training, National Assembly Delegate of Nghe An Delegation spoke at the discussion. Photo: Phan Hau

Regarding this issue, Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Director of the Department of Education and Training, National Assembly Delegate of Nghe An Delegation also said that the name of the Resolution should be short; putting all unregistered license plates up for auction is inappropriate, related to the rights of consumers.

Because many people do not have the ability or need to bid, while the starting auction fee as stipulated in the draft Resolution is 20 million and 40 million VND in 2 regions. Therefore, to ensure fairness and consumer rights, Professor Thai Van Thanh said that it should be separated, perhaps dividing the percentage of unissued license plates to be auctioned, while the rest should still be issued in the usual way.

During the discussion session, delegates also expressed different opinions on the scope of the pilot auction of car license plates. Some delegates agreed to deploy it nationwide as in the draft Resolution, but others expressed opposing opinions.

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province spoke at the discussion at Group 16. Photo: Phan Hau

Ms. Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An said: In 2008, Nghe An piloted the issuance of license plates for cars and motorbikes through auctions based on the proposal of the Provincial Police and related departments and branches, collecting more than 4 billion VND to contribute to the Provincial Fund for the Poor, which was highly appreciated by public opinion. However, due to insufficient legal basis, it was later stopped.

Agreeing with the National Assembly's issuance of this Resolution, however, the Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An expressed concerns about the nationwide pilot scope as stated in the draft Resolution. The delegate said that the scope of the pilot should be limited to a local area for a period of time; then summarize and evaluate before expanding, in accordance with the pilot nature as stated in the Resolution.

Delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An province spoke at the discussion session of Group 16. Photo: Quang Vinh

Delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An province agreed with the Government's Proposal on regulations on the use of revenue from auctions, which stipulates that the amount of money collected from license plate auctions after deducting auction organization costs according to regulations will be divided into 70% to the central budget and 30% to the local budget.

Delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh also supported the Government's view presented to the National Assembly that it is not necessary to define "beautiful license plates" because "what we consider beautiful may not be considered beautiful by other people, it also depends on the preferences of each individual.

On the other hand, the delegate of Nghe An Delegation also suggested that the Government consider a period of time so that anyone buying a car can choose from this number without having to go through an auction because it is a citizen's right.

Delegate of Nghe An Delegation Nguyen Van Chi - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee spoke at the discussion session of Group 16. Photo: Phan Hau

Regarding the draft Resolution on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province, delegate Doan Nghe An Nguyen Van Chi - Vice Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly said that, basically, the content allowing investment projects in the field of coffee production and processing in Buon Ma Thuot city to enjoy investment incentives with a level of 4-year exemption and 50% reduction of tax in 9 years, applying a tax rate of 10% for a period of 30 years is appropriate, equivalent to the incentive level in a number of other specific mechanisms.

Delegate Dang Xuan Phuong - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, National Assembly Delegate of Nghe An Delegation spoke at the discussion on the draft Resolution on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province. Photo: Phan Hau

However, according to the delegate, there should be more regulations on determining the time and method of exemption and reduction. Accordingly, the Draft Resolution will need to clearly show the content of the time to start enjoying incentives, conditions for applying incentives, income enjoying incentives in accordance with tax laws...