Motorcycle COEs zoom ahead despite Finance Minister’s efforts to improve progressivity

The Finance Minister’s move to “improve progressivity” for motorcycles may have had the opposite effect in the last Certificate of Entitlement (COE) bidding exercise for such vehicles. The premium for motorbikes shot from the previous peak in January last year of $6,889 to a new record high of $7,483 on Wednesday (March 15).

The Government introduced the tiered additional registration fee for motorbikes at the last Budget. Mr Heng said that statistics which showed that growing number of motorcycle buyers were going for expensive bikes prompted the policy revision.

According to the new policy, motorbikes up to $5,000 in OMV will continue to pay 15 percent. The next $5,000 will attract a 50 percent ARF rate and 100 percent of the OMV for motorcycles beyond $10,000. The new policy also prohibited Category D COE meant for motorbikes will no longer contribute to the pool of Category E (Open) COEs.

Several netizens commenting on the COE price hike for motorcycles said that the Government’s new tax on big bikes have no effect and that the price is exorbitantly high for small bike users.

Blogger and biker chic Vaune Phan recently described the changes to the ARF system for motorcycles as “unjustifiable increase”. She gave the Minister “the biggest cock award of the year.” (See also: ‘Biker chic raps Heng Swee Keat for ‘daylight robbery on citizens’)

Featured photo by Motorbike Tire Shop