Keene
Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
THE INLAND Revenue Department (IRD) says it is running out of office space as its drawers and cabinets are now overcrowded with 152,000 motor vehicle titles which have not been collected.
Eighty-six thousand of these are from Kingston and St. Andrew. Manchester and St. James follow with 10,000 and 9,000 uncollected motor vehicle titles, respectively.
In a bid to have motorists collect their titles, the IRD recently implemented a titling requirement, which would make titles mandatory for licensing a vehicle. This requirement has however been withdrawn.
The tax administration, which is responsible for the IRD, says there is just no more space in its drawers and cabinets to safekeep these uncollected titles, some of which date back to 2000.
Vinette Keene, the new director general of tax administration, told The Sunday Gleaner on Friday that the uncollected titles are proving to be a headache for inland revenue officials.
"We are appealing to the public to come to collect their titles," she said.
ONEROUS MECHANISM
A number of car dealers had complained that the new mechanism was onerous, and that there were lots of difficulties involved in getting titles for vehicles.
"I have a hold on it (titling requirement)," Mrs. Keene stated. "I've since taken full charge of the project and we are trying to evaluate the extent of these problems as to whether we should implement or hold the project."
She added: "People can now proceed to get license for their vehicles without that (titling) requirement or being turned away."
Besides the uncollected titles, the tax administration's director general told The Sunday Gleaner that hundreds of application forms to collect motor vehicles titles had not been not properly completed.
"We are having a number of discrepancies on these applications forms and we are in a quandary to get them updated in order to implement the automated motor vehicle system (AMVS)," she said.
The tax administration says it has a solution.
"We're going to publish the licence plate numbers (of affected motorists) on our website so they can go there," she said, giving the website address as 'www.jamaicatax.gov.jm'. Motorists, Mrs. Keene added, can also call this toll-free number, 1-888-tax-help (1-88-829-4357) to get information on their uncollected titles.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Shaw, president of the Used Car Dealers' Association (UCDA), told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that his association welcomed the rescinding of the titling requirement.
"The UCDA fully supports the efforts of the Government to streamline the motor vehicle regulation policy," he said. "We fully support the effort to get illegal motor vehicles off the streets so we can have a healthy road environment."
Parishes and Number of Titles
Kingston & St. Andrew 85,900
Clarendon 3,510
St. Thomas 1,700
Portland 1,400
St. James 9,000
St. Elizabeth 3,450
Hanover 1,000
Manchester 10,000
Trelawny 1,200
St. Mary 2,470
Westmoreland 5,700
St. Ann 6,700
