Lawmakers acted with complete irresponsibility once again on the first day of the New Year during a rare show of partisan unity.
The ruling and opposition parties passed a bill on taxis early Tuesday morning that calls for taxis to be categorized as a form of public transportation along with buses, subways and trains. This would enable taxi operators to receive state subsidies on fuel, tax breaks, income deductions and other benefits totaling up to 1.9 trillion won.
The bill was first proposed as a typical populist measure entirely aimed at winning the votes of taxi drivers ahead of last month’s presidential election.
President Lee Myung-bak is reportedly in a dilemma over the bill. Rejecting the bill is not easy, considering that it was passed through a bipartisan agreement and that it would prompt unnecessary tension with the National Assembly with less than two months remaining before his five-year term ends. But the Chief Executive should veto the bill without hesitation, given its complete absence of rationality.
As we argued on this page earlier, the taxi bill has plenty of problems. First of all, no other country in the world recognizes taxis as a form of public transport which would mean that they are supposed to operate in accordance with specific routes and schedules. Currently, taxis meet a meager 9 percent of transport demand, compared with 31 percent for buses and 23 percent for subways and trains.
Giving subsidies and benefits to taxis without addressing the industry’s structural problems is like filling a bottomless vessel. The plight of taxi operators originates from a constant rise in the number of taxis while the number of taxi passengers declines. Therefore, the government’s taxi policy should be directed at reducing taxis and raising fares, which would mean making taxis high-quality, rather than public, transportation.
It defies our understanding that the rival parties passed the bill without thinking about finances. At least 1 trillion won ― excluding support through various tax breaks ― is needed to put into practice aid measures stipulated in the bill but the 2013 budget contains only 5 billion won, which is due to be doled out in compensation for removing taxis.
We don’t buy President-elect Park Geun-hye’s argument that all campaign pledges must be kept, given the huge risk of populism overwhelming politics. The National Assembly and the government should pool their wisdom to prop up the ailing taxi industry in other ways over the long term after President Lee rejects the bill.