ORANJESTAD (AAN) – Partido Patriotico Arubano (PPA) leader and parliamentarian Eduard Pieters stated during an interview with Matutino DIARIO that the Aruba government received approximately 31 million florins from vehicle taxes, funds he believes should be directly used for road infrastructure improvements.
Pieters made the comments during discussions in Parliament regarding the Department of Public Works (DOW) budget.
According to Pieters, DOW is an important government department responsible for many public services, with Aruba’s road conditions being one of the most urgent issues.
He explained that if Aruba has around 90,000 vehicles on the road, and each owner pays an average of 350 florins in vehicle taxes, the government would collect around 31 million florins annually.
Pieters referred to a report submitted by the minister to Parliament which stated that DOW would need approximately 180 million florins to fully restore Aruba’s roads.
“If the government collects 31 million florins from vehicle taxes every year, it would take about six years to completely improve the roads,” Pieters argued.
He criticized the fact that the collected tax money goes into the general government budget instead of being directly allocated to road infrastructure projects.
“It cannot be that citizens pay high taxes and even face fines for late payments while roads remain in poor condition,” Pieters stated.
He emphasized that this is not only a problem of the current government but a long-standing issue under previous administrations as well.
Pieters proposed implementing a dedicated tax system where all revenues collected from vehicle taxes and license plate payments would go directly to DOW for road repairs and infrastructure maintenance.
He also pointed out that while DOW reportedly has accumulated debts of 4.5 million florins, the annual vehicle tax revenue far exceeds that amount.
“With 31 million florins, the government could pay those debts and still begin paving roads,” Pieters concluded.
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