Taxing the polluters
The Ministry of Finance is to introduce a car tax based on fuel efficiency.
Currently, every first-car registration in Poland can cost as much as zł.4 per cubic centimeter of engine capacity. The Ministry of Finance is unsatisfied with the excise's efficiency, and is opting for an ecology tax instead. The project has already been filed with parliament.
Unlike the present excise, the rate of the new tax will not be connected to a vehicle's value. Instead, owners will be charged depending on the car's compliance with EU emission norms. Older and less ecologically friendly models will cost more.
"Some taxpayers intentionally underestimate the value of their vehicles on invoices or sale contracts," Jarosław Neneman, the undersecretary of state at the Finance Ministry, told money.pl. However, the size of the engine and emission levels will be easier to verify.
The government admits the change will result in a small tax rise, especially for those registering smaller vehicles.
"This raise will not be noticed by the market," says Neneman, pointing out that a handsome zł.900 million should considerably reinforce the state treasury.
What the market is bound to notice, however, is the decreasing attractiveness of older cars that were imported from Western Europe in their hundreds of thousands last year. A two-liter Opel Omega from 1990, for example, could be levied with zł.8,000 of ecology tax, which might top the value of the vehicle itself.
Expensive limos and SUVs, complying with the latest Euro four norms, will be charged less than now.
Currently, every first-car registration in Poland can cost as much as zł.4 per cubic centimeter of engine capacity. The Ministry of Finance is unsatisfied with the excise's efficiency, and is opting for an ecology tax instead. The project has already been filed with parliament.
Unlike the present excise, the rate of the new tax will not be connected to a vehicle's value. Instead, owners will be charged depending on the car's compliance with EU emission norms. Older and less ecologically friendly models will cost more.
"Some taxpayers intentionally underestimate the value of their vehicles on invoices or sale contracts," Jarosław Neneman, the undersecretary of state at the Finance Ministry, told money.pl. However, the size of the engine and emission levels will be easier to verify.
The government admits the change will result in a small tax rise, especially for those registering smaller vehicles.
"This raise will not be noticed by the market," says Neneman, pointing out that a handsome zł.900 million should considerably reinforce the state treasury.
What the market is bound to notice, however, is the decreasing attractiveness of older cars that were imported from Western Europe in their hundreds of thousands last year. A two-liter Opel Omega from 1990, for example, could be levied with zł.8,000 of ecology tax, which might top the value of the vehicle itself.
Expensive limos and SUVs, complying with the latest Euro four norms, will be charged less than now.
