The best thing about the 2022 licence plate on Monday’s front page is that it did not mention a specific year. This allows it to be used longer, whereby less expensive and wasteful alternatives to indicate payment of motor vehicle tax can be considered.
St. Maarten has used stickers twice already, on one occasion because not everyone agreed with the “50 years carnival” slogan on the plates and a second time when there were issues with the provider and replacements could not be supplied from China due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
These two experiences should make it possible to come up with a windshield sticker from 2023 of which the colour changes annually and that is clearly visible to authorities. It must also be cost-effective and nature-friendly.
Some may argue that old licence plates are sold to tourists, but most of them probably end up on the dump. They are not made locally but imported, adding to the environmental burden producing and transporting them entails.
If government does not pass the probable savings involved on to motorists, it could use the money to help fix the roads. A letter to the editor on today’s opinion pages by a Canadian couple illustrates how visitors view the state of the country’s infrastructure.
After all, shouldn’t that be what “road tax” is for?
