Disabled must drive to avoid car tax
A disabled man's application for exemption from car tax was refused because he could not drive the special vehicle he wanted to import, it was revealed yesterday.
The vehicle had been altered to allow him to get into the passenger side and an able-bodied person would drive it.
The case has led to a demand by the ombudsman that the Government change the law to stop discrimination against 'one of society's most vulnerable' groups.
The policy of exempting from first registration tax only disabled people who could drive 'wreaked injustice' on others and was 'patently contrary to the social purpose of the law', said the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints, Andrew So Kwok-wing, in a report released yesterday.
He was asked to investigate and although no maladministration was found, the report recommended the Government changed its policy.
'The concession could have been made available to all disabled persons and ways and means should have been explored to confine the concession to bona fide applicants with appropriate policing functions to match,' the report said.
'This category of disabled is not expected to outgrow the [Transport Department's] resource and capacity to manage them, nor should policing against impostors be beyond their wits.' Mr So was told by the Transport Department the application was rejected in line with policy. Treasury officials expressed strong reservations about offering the exemption to all disabled people.
Mr So rejected these defences and said the community would benefit from extending the exemption.
