Firm campaigns for lower tax on motor scooters

Scooters have long buzzed along the edges of life in European cities as a tool of mass transit, but in Malta they have failed to pick up as a speedier alternative to snaking through the car-chocked streets.

The pot-holed roads coupled with registration taxes that amount to about 40 per cent of the scooter's value have led to a substantial decline in the number of newly licensed motorcycle vehicles - from 786 in 2002 to 408 in 2005.

A local importer of scooters has embarked on a mission to reverse this trend by appealing to the government to have a more attractive registration tax policy on two-wheeled vehicles.

M. Demajo & Co. Ltd, importers and distributors of Piaggio, have just presented a detailed proposal to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech requesting new fiscal measures that would benefit users of scooters with an engine capacity of not more than 250cc.

The company believes that by modifying the present fiscal measures the government would provide a strong incentive for consumers to buy more fuel-efficient and environmentally cleaner engines.

Just last week, the European Parliament backed a European Commission proposal to abolish car registration taxes and to replace them with an EU-wide taxation scheme based on CO2 pollution.

MEPs maintained that an annual circulation tax, which would be linked to the level of pollution produced by the car, should replace the current motor-vehicle registration taxes imposed in most member states.

The company is arguing that with the pollution from heavy traffic congestion and the introduction of fees for cars entering Valletta, the time is ripe to review the taxation system.

"The present disproportionate registration tax makes a scooter cost practically double the amount. If you add the insurance on top of that it means that buying a scooter is not economically feasible," said Velislava Hillman, the company's marketing and public relations executive.

Ms Hillman, who drew up the proposal and has spent the last months researching the situation, believes scooters could be the answer to less congested, polluted roads.

"Taking into consideration the whole road infrastructure and problems of parking every day, a scooter is a good solution," she said.

The proposal also suggests that the Malta Transport Authority and the police could be more proactive and develop measures to tackle unsafe riding, improve the roads infrastructure, offer education to scooter riders and create awareness about the social, environmental, transport and financial benefits of scooters.

The company's stand has also received the support of the University Students Council (KSU), which is promoting scooters on campus during Freshers' Week this week, as an alternative to cars that congest the area.