Planned tax on imported used cars offers lifeline to domestic manufacturers

Under new regulations being planned by the Economy Ministry, an excise tax is to be introduced on imported used cars, with the rate to be calculated according to how old the car is. The Ministry is believed to be considering an increase in the excise rate of five percentage points for every year of a car's age. Domestic car producers, who have been experiencing dramatic falls in sales recently, have been lobbying hard for such a tax. "In our opinion the excise tax rate should be lowered to 3% for new cars, kept at the present level of 6% for cars up to four years old, and for older cars the rate should increase by 5 percentage points per year of age," said head of the Polish Automotive Chamber (PIM), Stefan Bielinski. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) M.K.