Drivers are concerned over the levy on car recycling in Tajikistan. Experts believe that the main purpose of the fee is to replenish the budget.
Under a new law approved in late December last year but only made public in late January, the one-off tax, which is being dubbed a recycling fee, will be collected upon registration of a new vehicle or, for those vehicles already in circulation, during scheduled mandatory technical inspections.
The money will ostensibly be used to cover the cost of scrapping vehicles in an environmentally friendly manner once they are taken off the road.
The experience of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Russia had reportedly been studied in drawing up this tariff.
The Interior Ministry Traffic Police Directorate is responsible for the collection of the fee.
CABAR.asia says Saimiddin Hasanzoda, the head of the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the Interior Ministry Traffic Police Directorate, specified the amount of payment for vehicle disposal.
Thus, motorcycles will pay 360 somonis (about US $33); cars and other vehicles that carry more than 10 people, 1,584 somonis (about US$145); and trucks and special equipment, 2,880 somonis (about US $264).
Some experts note that for many people this amount of payment would be unaffordable.
CABAR.asia notes that according to the Ministry of Transport, more than 577,000 vehicles were registered in Tajikistan in April 2023, including 50,248 trucks, 15,587 passenger cars, 507,661 personal vehicles, 1,780 units of special vehicles, and 2,036 motorcycles.
According to CABAR.asia’s calculations, about one billion somonis (91 million US dollars) should go to the country’s budget if tolls are collected from this number of vehicles. With state budget revenues planned at 43 billion somonis (about $3.9 billion) in 2024, this amount would represent about 2.3% of all revenues.
The average salary last year in Tajikistan was about 170 US dollars.
Technical inspections are mandatory once a year, costing owners of passenger cars 250 somonis (about US $23) and owners of other types of vehicles 350 somonis (about US $32).
Drivers are concerned over the new levy on cars. They also noted that the transportation tax has increased since January 1 of this year.
The introduction of the new fee comes amid rising taxes and electricity bills since the beginning of the year.
Economic analyst, Nour Safarov, says the first thing that needed to be worked out was the recycling procedure itself.
“This practice exists in developed countries, but the payment for disposal is made after the car has gone to a landfill and will be disposed of in accordance with technological conditions,” the expert said.
Nour Safarov agrees with the opinion that the authorities have begun charging motorists a vehicle-scrapping tax in a bid to replenish the budget in this way.
Tajik lawyer Shokirjon Hakimov believes that the decision to introduce a disposal fee contradicts the law.
“Because in essence it means the introduction of a tax. Those who have the right to appeal to the Constitutional Court should apply for a substantive assessment of rights and correction of objections. Otherwise, there will be anxiety among certain segments of society,” Hakimov said.
