Road user's tax passage deferred

There will be no road user's tax -- for now.

President Estrada said he decided to defer indefinitely the signing into law of the Road User's Tax Act, which would have imposed annual taxes ranging from P300 to P7,500 on various land vehicles.

This developed as transport groups all over the country announced plans to hold a nationwide protest against the measure.

Press Secretary Rodolfo Reyes said the President decided to postpone the signing of the Road User's Tax Act after meeting with key leaders of Congress.

"I think the reasons are quite obvious. The measure is ill-timed," Reyes said.

He said the President did not set a specific time frame for the measure's signing.

The Road User's Tax Act was authored by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and was approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives separately last March 1.

It provides that owners of cars and other small vehicles will be asked to pay P1,300 while those who own bigger vehicles will be paying P3,800 to P7,500 in annual taxes.

Those owning motorcycles will be taxed P300 to P500 annually, and those operating buses will be levied P2,200.

Operators of passenger jeepneys, on the other hand, will have to pay P3,500 each year.

Enrile said the measure would provide additional revenues to the cash-strapped government, which is faced with the challenge of maintaining national and provincial roads.The measure is expected to raise at least P1 billion in additional taxes from the country's more than one million registered vehicles.

The transportation sector, however, has declared the measure as "grossly disadvantageous" to all. And it vowed to hold a massive strike to air its protest.

In Cebu City, for instance, the Confederation of Transport Operators and Drivers said it will launch a strike that would completely paralyze the busy island province.