Tax pushes old cars off the road

A proposed car tax will greatly increase the cost of buying old, used cars. According to car-market analysis firm Samar, the tax on a 1993 Opel Vectra with a 1.6 liter engine would amount to zł.6,766 under the new law, in comparison to zł.1,774 under the excise tax and zł.2,799 according to April's tax proposals. "This tax is clearly more restrictive. It will decrease the profitability of importing old cars," the president of Samar, Wojciech Drzewiecki, said.

But not everyone will lose. "Those who buy more expensive cars with larger engines will benefit," Drzewecki said. The figures bear him out - a 2002 Ford Focus 1.6 would now be taxed zł.1,499 in comparison to the excise tax of zł.8,680. The value of the tax will be based on the engine size of the car and the European environmental standard, which is dependent on the age of the vehicle. The older the car, the higher the index and thus the higher the tax.

But the decrease in the import of old cars doesn't mean that producers and dealers of new vehicles will immediately benefit. "The supply of cheaper cars on the Polish market is enough for about two years," says Drzewiecki. But he adds that after that, when the prices of second-hand cars increase due to a decrease in supply, producers will start to benefit. "It will pay to buy a new car," Drzewiecki said.