Putting off the fuel tax is a decision made in the department's interest, not the nation's, says a signed article in China Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

According to the latest circular from the Ministry of Transportation, fees for road maintenance will continue to be collected in 2007.

The announcement is an explicit statement that the long-expected fuel tax, anticipated to take the place of the fee, is to be further delayed and the implementation of clauses in the country's highway law about fuel tax will be suspended for at least another year.

Besides helping save energy, the fuel tax will also promote fairness in the use of transport facilities those who drive more will pay more.

Putting-off the fuel tax further not only hinders efforts to protect the environment, but also the rule of law.

After a year-long discussion on the fuel tax and the road maintenance fee, it is clear that the real reason for putting off the implementation of fuel tax is that the transport department will face a huge loss if the fee is no longer collected.

The road maintenance fee is collected by the transport department and is meant to be spent on keeping the roads in good shape.

But the fact is that the department pockets the public service fee and uses it mainly to cover its own expenditure.

An auditing report on the income and costs of the transport department in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, showed that 87 percent of road maintenance fees collected from truck owners in 2005 was spent on the administrative costs. Only 13 percent was used to repair the roads.

The Shuozhou case, to a certain extent, mirrors the way the fee is used in transport departments of all levels.

At the same time, the transport department hires hundreds of thousands of people to collect the fee every year and check for automobiles trying to evade the collection. They will lose their jobs if the fee is no longer collected.

So it's no wonder the transport department is willing to make every effort to put off the fuel tax. Its efforts are being made to protect its own interest.

Unfortunately the transport department, or whoever is in charge of this decision, has forgotten the public and national interests.

(China Daily November 1, 2006)