AMMAN —
Cars dealers have asked the
government to lower taxes on imported hybrid cars, saying that their losses have
increased and that they need solutions fast.
اضافة اعلان
Mohammad Abdul Karim, a car dealer,
told
Jordan News that "I have a car trading company, and I
suffered from huge losses, even before the pandemic."
Abdul Karim added that "people,
after hybrid cars had been released, started to demand hybrids more than gasoline
cars, but when the government announced that the taxes on these cars would be increased,
the demand decreased."
Since a Cabinet decision to raise
clearance
taxes on hybrid vehicles in 2018, those looking to buy hybrid have
had to contend with yearly increases in customs. In 2021, the clearance tax on imported
hybrid vehicles was 45 percent.
"The government should now
reconsider such decisions. It must take a new decision immediately to lower
taxes on hybrid cars to help us compensate the losses" Abdul Karim said,
adding that "customers are also affected by such decisions, usually, they
prefer hybrid cars as they are cheaper and consume less gasoline."
Mohammad Al-Assi, another car
dealer, told
Jordan News that "our circumstances as car
dealers are hard; it is not just about hybrid cars. I can tell that the demand for
all cars in general had decreased due to the difficult economic
situation."
On another hand, citizens that spoke
to
Jordan News said that the increase on taxes had not just
affected car dealers but also people who want to buy hybrid cars.
Mohammad Dabbas, a citizen, told
Jordan
News that "I wanted to buy a hybrid car because such cars consume
less gasoline, especially since my job requires me to use my car for hours and
I cannot afford to always fuel up my car."
Dabbas added that "unfortunately
the government is significantly increasing the taxes without paying attention
to our conditions as citizens. I guess that buying cars is now limited to rich
people who can afford to buy them."
"I visited so many countries,
and Dubai is one of them — and although the majority of people in Dubai are
rich, cars are also cheaper, I wonder why in Jordan cars are that expensive"
he said, adding that "having a new car in Jordan is just a dream."
The head of the
Jordanian Free Zones Investment Commission, Muhammad Al-Bustanji, recently announced that imports of
hybrids decreased at a rate of more than 50 percent per month during 2021,
compared to the monthly rate of clearance during 2020.
Bustanji pointed out in his press
statement that the monthly clearance of hybrids during 2020 stood at about
1,600 vehicles, compared to an average of 650 vehicles that were cleared per
month during 2021.
Bustanji added that during the first
five months of the year, 11,500 gasoline and diesel vehicles, 3,200 hybrid
vehicles, and 1,000 electric vehicles, were imported.
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