Aidan Xuereb, Xemxija
Discrimination against small-boat owners
The budget demonstrated the government's lack of knowledge in the area of boats and yachts, as well as blatantly discriminating against small boat owners. The yearly license fee for boats was always discriminatory, and one would have hoped that this would be remedied once and for all. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
The new budget measures saw an increase in fees for so-called yachts. The maximum horsepower mentioned is 150hp for any sort of "yacht". This is ridiculous for the following reasons:
Technically, a yacht is classified as a recreational vessel greater than 30 feet (or 10 metres).
They go up to around 100 feet. Vessels between 100 feet and 200 feet are called mega yachts. Any vessel over 200 feet is called a super yacht, and vessels over 300 feet are called ships, and are usually commercial vessels.
Vessels under 30 feet long are simply called boats, and are usually not very expensive, especially when compared to yachts over 30 feet long. Furthermore, boats of less than 30 feet are usually powered by engines not very much over the 150hp mark, depending on their size and type; they can be powerboats, cruisers, sailing boats or fishing boats. I wish to see a yacht bigger than 30 feet powered an engine close to 150hp, unless it's a sailing boat.
The discriminatory factor is that a typical small boat owner having, say, a 20-foot boat powered by a 150hp engine, has to pay the maximum license of €200. The owner of, say, a 150-foot yacht (which is typically powered by around 2000hp, and are basically floating houses), pays the same maximum license of €200. Does anyone in his right mind think that this is fair? I don't think so. If this is not discrimination, what is then?
And what about the so-called green budget that our government presented to us? Do they know the difference in emissions of a boat powered by a 150hp engine compared to that of a yacht with 2000hp? Even a grade one student would understand the difference.
I kindly ask the government to review these licenses and balance them out, increasing the range of the "yacht" sizes and their license fees accordingly. I think that the government can actually make much more money out of the larger yacht owners, and not make the small boat owners pay for the former's (very) expensive luxuries.
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lgalea
Nov 14th 2008, 23:57
Liam Kelly
that's why governments are supposed to be there. To fix it.
Liam Kelly
Nov 14th 2008, 21:31
@ Aidan
My first point regarding car engines wasn't targeted at you.
My second point regarding paying; Yes you have a point that it is unfair to charge you the same as a stronger engined boat...but lets face it, life isn't always fair is it ?!
Aidan Xuereb
Nov 14th 2008, 18:41
@ Liam Kelly
First of all I did not write anything about cars and their licences.
Secondly, no one is arguing about the fact that we cannot, or don’t want to pay boat licences; but why do 20 foot small boat owners have to pay the same licence as 100 foot yacht (floating houses) owners?
I'm quite sure you can understand this simple point Mr. Kelly
Liam Kelly
Nov 14th 2008, 17:45
Are you the same commenters who complained that taxing large cars was 'unfair' since its the size and capacity of the engine which actually does the polluting?
If you had enough money to buy a boat in the first place then surely sir you have enough money to pay your licence....
Bryan Enriquez
Nov 14th 2008, 16:04
@j azzopardi
Scattered moorings is one thing and boat owners another! Many small boats are only put down for the day and taken back up hence not using any mooring places! The scattered moorings are only a sign of lack of organisation/enforcement from the Authorities and also due to the lack of space allotted to small boat owners unlike the massive pontoons allotted to the "richer people" who can afford them!
In this latest tax, the Government did not even bother to distinguish between the environmental friendly 4 stroke and 2 stroke irrespective of the much larger investment people did to safeguard the environment!
lgalea
Nov 14th 2008, 15:22
j azzopardi
You seem to be pretty well-off Mr Azzopardi and being envious of the small boat owners at the same time. How about having your fee increased at the same persentage as that of small boats?
Aidan Xuereb
Nov 14th 2008, 14:43
@ J Azzopardi
What does that have anything to do with licences to use and own a boat? A small boat does have the advantage of being more manoeuvrable in small ports, bays and in between buoys and other boats, but it’s far from a good reason to justify high licences, especially when compared to large yachts.
j azzopardi
Nov 14th 2008, 13:59
small boat owners just had it good for a long time they occupy the best sheltered areas in any harbour and leave hardly any room for any thing bigger than 8 bmeters to move in between their scattered moorings,
deb bugeja
Nov 14th 2008, 13:27
only a budget for the well off
A.Paris
Nov 14th 2008, 10:28
Yes I agree with you,mine is 16feet lenght and powered by a 30hp outboard 4stroke cycle with enviromental regulation (2006 EPA Standard) .My fee is 165 euro (Lm70.83) from 58.23 euro(Lm25).
Reinhard Azzopardi
Nov 14th 2008, 10:03
Aidan, long time no see mate.
The problem with this country is that the people who create these taxes and laws are not technically minded. Everyone who's involved with boating knows that the unit of measure for any vessel is either its length or weight. Engine power does not normally play any role whatsoever. Let's face it, our waters are full of large sailing boats that are worth hundreds of thousands of euros and they're powered by relatively small engines. Why should the owner of a small speedboat pay more than the owner of a large sailing boat?
The same goes for car registration. Our powers-that-be keep insisting on referring to power generated by an engine using the capacity. This is totally unjust. Almost everybody knows that horsepower is not directly related to capacity. In today's day and age, one can find a measly 1.3 litre engine that punches out 130 bhp. That's more than my 2.5 litre turbocharged diesel can achieve. To get this power, the smaller engine needs to burn more fuel and yet owners of such high polluters get to pay less. Polluter pays? I doubt it.