The recent oil price hike is purportedly to make Malaysia more competitive in the region by removing subsidies and eliminating the two-tier price system. Economics teaches us that subsidies and taxes cause distortion in the economy and produce inefficiencies and resource mis-allocations.

However, the removal of oil subsidies alone does not eliminate this distortion, because we still have 'taxes' imposed on vehicle owners in the form of exorbitant road taxes and excise taxes based on the size of car engines not to mention the tolls everywhere.

Thailand and our other neighbors may be paying more for their diesel and petrol but they pay substantially much less in the form of vehicle registration fees (otherwise known as 'road tax' in Malaysia) and excise tax.

As a pensioner-owner of a diesel car, I feel the recent price hike is a punishment on us who want to travel long distances cheaply to visit our faraway kampung and see the country in our twilight years. We now pay more not only for fuel (petrol and diesel), but also for the tolls everywhere we go. These days, we can hardly take any road without having to pay toll.

To be fair to the consumers and to make this country truly competitive, the government should also reduce road tax substantially (especially for green diesel-engined vehicles). Don't just look at the subsidies also look at the high taxes and tolls that consumers are now paying. Subsidies and taxes go hand in hand you remove one and you must remove the other.

We know we have to face reality and we don't want to be labelled a subsidy-dependent lot, but we also want to be taxed fairly. Don't use excise tax and road tax as a source of government revenue.

Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that income tax be reduced; just that some logic be built into the way road tax is determined. Don't keep increasing toll rates and also keep increasing road and vehicle excise taxes. We have suffered enough!