Jamus Lim asked for discounts to be given on COE for families with special needs; the Government said no

SINGAPORE: On Monday (Sep 22), at the first session of the 15th Parliament of Singapore, Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim (Sengkang) brought up the topic of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), the document that allows residents in Singapore to own and operate cars.

The city-state is one of the most expensive places in the world for car ownership. The COE alone, which does not include the price of a vehicle, can easily cost S$100,000 or more.

Assoc Prof Lim began his speech by referring to an exchange on Facebook with Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong in July that had gone viral and which was, in essence, about differing approaches to taking care of people’s needs.

He then noted specific circumstances when having a car is “much closer to a need than a luxury” — for example, when a family member is disabled, or when parents need to ferry around their young children or their own elderly parents.

“I propose a simpler, cleaner approach toward incorporating the needs of certain groups—which, if I may remind this House, we have already accepted are worth supporting—within the existing price-based COE system: discounts,” the MP said.

Responding to Assoc Prof Lim, Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow said that he sympathised with many of the perspectives the WP MP had laid out, but underlined that allocating discounts on COEs based on each family’s needs would be challenging.

He added that “a needs-based system for the COE sounds attractive, but in practice it is subjective, divisive, and benefits too few.”

And while Mr Siow acknowledged that Singapore’s transport system is not perfect, he called it the “fairest and most effective way to allocate a scarce resource”.

Netizens commenting on Assoc Prof Lim’s proposals and the government’s response were divided.

“The only thing I’m hearing is the refusal to try….I see this can benefit a lot of young families who really need it… and it also encourages people to have more children…” wrote a Facebook user.

“This is a commendable proposal. I would recommend that owners of a second vehicle be subject to an additional COE stamp duty, to better manage car ownership and ensure equitable contribution,” another chimed in.

On Reddit, a netizen noted, “As much as I appreciate the sentiment, this won’t serve to reduce the cost of COE by much. Instead, it will likely go up. The issue is supply and demand; if you give a discount, the bids will likely go up (albeit likely less than the discount).”

“People with the subsidies will be incentivised to keep bidding for it despite how high the prices go because they will still get it cheaper than the rest. End up the COE prices will rise even higher than without the subsidy,” another agreed. /TISG

Read also: SM Lee vs Jamus Lim on COE and the ‘best way to meet people’s needs and take care of them’