New coalition says vehicle tax is not a priority

The new political coalition recently made it clear that the vehicle tax is not a priority. The vehicle bill was adopted in 2018. The then members of the opposition had announced that the new law would be abolished if they were to win the elections. Now they are singing a different tune. President Chandrikapersad Santokhi acknowledged the statements that were made on August

28, 2018 but added that “things can’t be scrapped as easy as one would think.” He explained that the experts would be instructed to study the status and the legal impact of the law. SRD 52 million was collected when some people paid their vehicle tax when the law went into effect in 2019. Many people refused to pay the vehicle tax but there were still long lines outside of the offices where the vehicle tax could be paid. The police never enforced the law which simply means that the people should in fact get a refund. The president pointed out that the government would study the issue.

Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk also confirmed that the Council of Ministers would evaluate the vehicle tax law.

Finance

Minister Armand

Achaibersing also has no clear answer with regards to the money that has already been paid. But a refund or reactivation of the law is currently out of the question. “We will take a good look at this before making the right decisions,” said the minister who added that the government is currently busy focusing on increasing its income and decreasing its expenditures.