Possible punishment for idle plate lottery winners

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As the purchase deadline for Beijing drivers who won the first round of the license plate lottery approached on July 26, it's estimated about 1,000 winners failed to buy cars within the required half-year period, according to the Beijing Municipal Traffic Committee, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

The failed 1,000 license plate quotas will be automatically added to the August lottery, according to the lottery rules, and their names would be revealed publicly.

Many are calling for severer punishments for those winners who fail to buy a car within the specified timeframe.

Respondents to an online survey launched by Beijing traffic authorities two months ago to solicit public opinion about possible penalties called for a one to two-year ban on future applications for offenders.

Experts suggested that they should be severely punished and not allowed to apply for license plates for two years. In addition, they recommended shortening the time limit for buying cars from six months to one or two months.

Since the opportunities to win the lottery are narrow, several members of one family apply for a plate in order to increase their chances of winning, but only one car will be purchased in the end. Many residents argued that such behavior narrowed others' opportunities.

Experts said that the applicants should apply for the license plate based on family units, not as individuals, to prevent the waste of quotas.

Meanwhile, as the country's new individual income tax exemption threshold will be raised from 2,000 yuan ($307.7) to 3,500 yuan ($538.5), residents without Beijing 'Hukou' (registered permanent residence), who do not meet this income threshold, are worried they will not be eligible to apply for vehicle plates. According to regulations, applicants who do not have Beijing permanent residency must have paid individual income tax for over five years continuously.

Experts suggested using a record of continuous work payment or something similar, rather than a tax-paid certificate, to ensure the system was fair. The tax revenue department also said that other certificates may be introduced to solve the problem after September 1 when the new individual income tax law will come into force.