Italy's new KW Car Tax

username?!

Italy has declared war on high power cars with a new KW tax.

You wouldn’t know it based on the increasingly astounding outputs being cranked out by Italy’s sports cars, but the Boot of Europe has decided that horsepower is a vice.
As part of new austerity measures designed to bring down Italy’s horrific budget deficit, the so-called “superbollo” tax swings the Hammer of Government Inconvenience directly into the Nutsack of Horsepower Enthusiasm. Simply put, the superbollo charges a car’s owner €20 for every kilowatt of power his or her car makes above 185 kW. (Or, to put it in slightly more relateable terms, $19.58 for ever horsepower north of 248.) And he or she will be charged that every year he or she owns the car.
So, say you live in Italy, and you’d like to show your national pride by picking up Ferrari’s newest all-star, the F12berlinetta. The F12b makes 544 kW, which puts it 359 kW over the tax-free limit. 359 times €20 equals €7,180 per year in superbollo taxes.
This comes on top of the regular “bollo” tax Italy levies on its drivers, which is an annual road tax that varies based on the horsepower, fuel type and emissions of the vehicle in question. This reportedly runs around €1,300 per year or more for exotic cars and their ilk, so with the superbollo tacked on, Italian owners of high-horsepower sports cars could be looking at annual tax bills of €8,500 or more.
The €20-per-kW fine only applies to cars five years old or newer; owners of cars between five and 10 years old have to pay €12 per kW, owners of cars 10-15 years old are charged €7 per kW, owners of 15-20 year old cars pay €3 per kW, and cars built more than 20 years ago are exempt. That should ease the burden on people who buy their sports cars second- or third-hand…but that 1998 Porsche 993 Turbo some middle-income guy from Milan scrimped and saved for a decade to afford is still going to cost him €791 extra per year.

Even with exceptions for aging vehicles, charging taxes based on a car’s horsepower—instead of basing it on factors that actually cause damage, like greenhouse gas emissions and curb weight—is downright vindictive. It’s a way for politicians to pick on a small group without much of a voice and little public opinion on their side. And worst of all, it’s not going to work. The super-wealthy who buy new Ferraris, Lamborghinis and so forth will just register their cars in tax havens like Switzerland, like residents of other European countries with high tax rates. So it’ll only end up hurting people who love horsepower but can’t afford to exploit legal loopholes, which is just shameful. Uncool, Italy. Uncool.

Full article: http://www.0-60mag.com/news/2012/03/cars-italy-has-declared-war-on-horsepower/

Anan1

I like the idea of a sliding scale with age, that could usefully extend the life of a lot of luxobarges here.

creedp

The only problem is that an exotic supercar for tax purposes in this country would be anything with a 2L engine or above ... hope the boy's don't read the Italian media:)

tossy

I can see an Irish equivalent coming down the line,it would be called the "high powered saloon" tax

Anan1

creedp wrote: »

The only problem is that an exotic supercar for tax purposes in this country would be anything with a 2L engine or above ... hope the boy's don't read the Italian media:)

The Germans have had kW -based tax for years, what makes the Italian version newsworthy is how hard it hits powerful cars. Mind, the Italians have a long history of tax-beating domestic versions of their sports cars - remember the likes of the Alfa GTV 2.0V6 turbo?

spank_inferno

Not a bad idea.

From what I can tell the "superbollo" will only kick in on anything above 240-250bhp

Agreed though.... where it in Ireland it would probably be lower.
This is the country where getting the 130bhp 1.9tdi is a supercar.

username?!

Anan1 wrote: »

I like the idea of a sliding scale with age, that could usefully extend the life of a lot of luxobarges here.

Agreed, but i think the first bracket should only be 2 year old and newer.


Imagine taxing a Veyron SS in italy now, or does it only apply to italian built cars, surely not?

Pique

swings the Hammer of Government Inconvenience directly into the Nutsack of Horsepower Enthusiasm.

Brilliant quote !

Anan1

username?! wrote: »

Agreed, but i think the first bracket should only be 2 year old and newer.

+1, I'd even go further and have a sliding scale all the way from year one to year twenty.

PrettyBoy

Absolutely crazy tax which is doing serious damage to the Italian car industry, the likes of Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini are blessed that they have big markets in China, Russia and the UK these days because they are not selling anything in the homeland.

Marcusm

Holy feck; are we sure the Italians don't mark April Fools Day in early March? Extraordinarily high taxes on something which might depreciate strongly at the beginning. I wouldn't want to have a 4 year old Monaro or VXR8 in Italy.

Leonard Hofstadter

What will happen is what happens in Belgium, the cars will be deliberately sold de-tuned, and then your friendly dealer will simply remap the car to its proper horsepower level and maybe a bit more:D!

On a more serious note, I agree with all the above sentiments - it is an absolutely crazy idea.

TomMc

Anan1 wrote: »

The Germans have had kW -based tax for years, what makes the Italian version newsworthy is how hard it hits powerful cars. Mind, the Italians have a long history of tax-beating domestic versions of their sports cars - remember the likes of the Alfa GTV 2.0V6 turbo?

or a 2.0L version of the E30 M3 badged as 320is.

username?!

captainspeed wrote: »

What will happen is what happens in Belgium, the cars will be deliberately sold de-tuned, and then your friendly dealer will simply remap the car to its proper horsepower level and maybe a bit more:D!

TomMc wrote: »

or a 2.0L version of the E30 M3 badged as 320is.

Is this actually done? Anybody car explain a bit more about it?

TomMc

http://www.bmwmregistry.com/model_faq.php?id=10

Anan1

username?! wrote: »

Is this actually done? Anybody car explain a bit more about it?

It was. At the time, the Italian government levied punitive taxes on engines over 2.0, so manufacturers designed some wonderful Italian-market specials to sneak in under the limit.

no1beemerfan

username?! wrote: »

Is this actually done? Anybody car explain a bit more about it?

Yup it was. A fella I know bought one a few years ago and flew out to Italy and drove it home. He was actually serious when he said he didn't hear his first rattle until he got off the boat at Rosslare!

Joe 90

I once heard, a long time ago possibly 70s, that the Italians had a higher rate of tax for cars ove 2 litres but that they also had a higher speed limit for them.

alias no.9

Anan1 wrote: »

It was. At the time, the Italian government levied punitive taxes on engines over 2.0, so manufacturers designed some wonderful Italian-market specials to sneak in under the limit.

Like the early Maserati Biturbo 2.0 and Alfa 2.0 V6 turbo

Anan1

Joe 90 wrote: »

I once heard, a long time ago possibly 70s, that the Italians had a higher rate of tax for cars ove 2 litres but that they also had a higher speed limit for them.

I heard that too - was it 150km/h for over 2.0 and 130 for under?

Joe 90

Anan1 wrote: »

I heard that too - was it 150km/h for over 2.0 and 130 for under?

Can't remember the figures. It was back when we had the 55mph overall limit.

drunkmonkey

Fire sale, Ferraris now going from €42.00, Yay:)

http://www.autosupermarket.it/cerca/ferrari/348%20tb%20-%20gtb.html

richardvv

I am assuming that the luxury car tax only applies to Italian Nationals and residents. In the case of General Aviation the "Luxury Tax" applies to anyone who takes their aircraft to Italy for more than 48 hrs (The plane is then considered resident!). Please tell me this isn't the case for cars. If so I will have to cancel my proposed trip later this year as it would potentially cost me an extra €2000!

Gone Drinking

unkel

Joe 90 wrote: »

I once heard, a long time ago possibly 70s, that the Italians had a higher rate of tax for cars ove 2 litres but that they also had a higher speed limit for them.

I remember in the 80s some cars in Italy, especially small ones had speed stickers on the back. For fairly low speeds like 70, 80 or 90km/h. At the time someone told me that was their speed limit in order to qualify for lower tax or something like that.

Edit: like this:

bijapos

richardvv wrote: »

I am assuming that the luxury car tax only applies to Italian Nationals and residents. In the case of General Aviation the "Luxury Tax" applies to anyone who takes their aircraft to Italy for more than 48 hrs (The plane is then considered resident!). Please tell me this isn't the case for cars. If so I will have to cancel my proposed trip later this year as it would potentially cost me an extra €2000!

If you are an Irish resident you can take your car to any other EU country for 3 months, so don't worry.

unkel wrote: »

I remember in the 80s some cars in Italy, especially small ones had speed stickers on the back. For fairly low speeds like 70, 80 or 90km/h. At the time someone told me that was their speed limit in order to qualify for lower tax or something like that.

I remember seeing them but never worked out what they were for.


Another tax beater was the Ferrari 208, essentially a 2l version of the V8. It looked the same as the 308 (the "Magnum P.I." Ferrari) and came with and without a turbo. Father of a friend of mine in Munich had one, performance not the best but it sounded good, some were imported into Germany second hand and were way cheaper then the bigger engined versions.

richardvv

Thank you!

Much relieved. Wouldn't want to spoil a good road trip!

eth0

What a load of bollo

mrblack

spank_inferno wrote: »

This is the country where getting the 130bhp 1.9tdi is a supercar.

Gee I didn't know till now that I drive an 8 yr old supercar A4 1.9td(red i)

Supercar costs though! Autobox just reconned for lotto dosh but she's driving like new again:D
Well done to A&M Gearboxes who saved the day and me hundreds of yoyos!

Mrblack