Safety is optional

The government, in it’s never ending insatiable drive to collect money, has decided to impose customs and sales taxes on safety and environmental equipment on new cars. It is expected that new car prices will go up between 6% and 8% as a result. The exemptions that were in place before were granted a few months ago, but now we are told that “new car designs integrate these features into the car, and so the exemptions are meaningless”. Yes, the car manufacturers of the world waited for the Jordanian government to enact this exemption, so that they can suddenly, in unison, change the way that they design their cars. How about “people started importing cars with the features included after the exemption was in place.”?

Now, car importers are considering not including many of these features on new cars, in order to lower costs.

Another way that people will save money is to hold on to their old cars for a little longer. This is not a reassuring thought, given the condition of many of the cars on the road all ready. I suspect that any net gain collected by the government will be spent on medical treatment for victims of car crashes. Oh, I forgot. There is no universal health insurance in Jordan.

The late king Hussein used to say “people are our most valuable asset”. I think that the government’s new slogan should be “people are useful to tax, but expensive to protect”.