[articles] EU Commission to move on VRT type taxes? (Merged threads)

mike65

Naturally I ain't holding my brealth but just maybe there's light at the end of the tunnel.

EU Q and A


from forbes

The European Union head office proposed an overhaul of taxes levied on cars in the 25-nation bloc Tuesday, calling for the charges to be focused on the amount of pollution they emit.

It said its proposal, which will need the backing of EU governments, "would not harmonize tax rates or oblige member states to introduce new taxes," but rather, shift taxes to ensure larger higher carbon dioxide emitting cars - like sports utility vehicles - are taxed more.

The EU said simpler taxation criteria would also make it easier for the transfer of cars between EU countries.

Laszlo Kovacs, EU commissioner in charge of taxation and customs issues said there was "strong support" for overhauling automobile taxes in Europe.

He said registration taxes slapped on passenger vehicles "give rise to double taxation for European citizens and create fragmentation within the European car industry."

The European Commission proposes to phase out those registration levies and restructure annual circulation taxes over a period of five to ten years.

Mike.

De Hipster

Fingers, arms, toes, legs & anything else that paired are crossed that they will finally do something on this...VRT is government daylight robbery!

Stephen

I'm sure the bods in the dept. of finance/revenue are at this very moment sticking their fingers in their ears and saying NAH NAH NAH I'M NOT LISTENING.
If they're forced to remove VRT they'll just bring in some other bull**** tax to ream us with to keep the revenue up.

fjon

Possibly by 2016. Fingers crossed:

EC showdown looms over bid to scrap VRT

THE European Commission decided yesterday to press ahead with its plan to scrap Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), setting the stage for a showdown with several states, including Ireland.

Irish EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy was not present at the meeting, though his opposition to the plan is known.

The proposal to abolish VRT was endorsed by an overwhelming majority of the 25-member Commission team.

Under the plan, car registration tax would be removed by 2016. And in a transition period, governments would have to partially refund the tax if the car owner moved country or the vehicle was exported.

Sixteen of the 25 EU states levy some form of vehicle registration tax. In Ireland, it accounts for up to 30pc of the retail price of a car and nets €800m a year.

The commission wants to end double taxation, where a motorist moving from Ireland to Denmark would have to pay car registration again to register the vehicle in the new country.

The plan would also establish mandatory tax breaks to encourage consumers to buy environmentally friendly cars with low emissions - dovetailing registration and road taxes, and linking them to how much the vehicle pollutes.

EU governments must unanimously agree the proposal for it to become law, which means Ireland could block the plan on its own. But it would need support from other states to avoid political isolation.

Aine Gallagher

ambro25

About f*%^$*£ time too :mad:

Jumpy

fjon wrote:

EU governments must unanimously agree the proposal for it to become law, which means Ireland could block the plan on its own. But it would need support from other states to avoid political isolation.

Bet you they will block it too.

Stephen

They'll probably go along with it to save face in Europe, and then introduce another stupid tax to recoup the lost VRT revenue.

DubTony

I wouldn't get too excited about it yet (if at all). It's going to take ten years to phase out.

fjon wrote:

The commission wants to end double taxation, where a motorist moving from Ireland to Denmark would have to pay car registration again to register the vehicle in the new country.

If this is the only reason for dropping it, the government will find a way around it. VRT for most people is a one country, one time tax. To avoid double taxation of citizens, they'll probably allow the importing of cars without VRT if you've lived in another country for .... oh .... more than 6 months?

If VRT is abolished in Ireland, we can expect to see massive hikes in the taxation of petrol and huge increases in road tax. As road tax will undoubtedly be adjusted upward over a period of time, most of us will be screwed as we've already paid VRT on the cars we drive.

And as soon as open road tolling on motorways becomes the norm, expect to see it on many more non-motorway roads. City and major town centres will also be tolled, in the guise of congestion charges. There are many, many ways the Irish government can take our hard earned from our pockets, and they're very, very good at it.

No problem collecting money from motorists. The problem for us is that we like our cars.

Corben Dallas

'THE European Commission decided yesterday to press ahead with its plan to scrap Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), setting the stage for a showdown with several states, including Ireland.

Irish EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy was not present at the meeting, though his opposition to the plan is known.

The proposal to abolish VRT was endorsed by an overwhelming majority of the 25-member Commission team.

Under the plan, car registration tax would be removed by 2016. And in a transition period, governments would have to partially refund the tax if the car owner moved country or the vehicle was exported'

At last! they need to get their finger out, i'm sure they could phase it out over 4/5 years so the market can adjust here, >>>>(please lets not have any 'i'm alright jack' posters saying i've just brought/planning to buy a new car so (for my benefit) keep the VRT for another 4 years))

And NO REPLACEMENT VRT TAX EITHER!!!!! U MUPPETS IN THE REVENUE/DEPT OF ENVIROMENTS, irish ppl pay WAT TOO MUCH for the right to drive a car. If anything u should start a refund programme becuase teh Irish Govn has been ripping off anyone whos ever bought a new car.

+ I'd Love to know exactly why Charlie is 'known to be opposed' to VRT tax, ffs he works in the EU Competition authority now, I hope hes not going to be a hypocrite. Dont let Irish Motorists down Charlie.

unkel

Corben Dallas wrote:

I'd Love to know exactly why Charlie is 'known to be opposed' to VRT tax, ffs he works in the EU Competition authority now

Yep, that must be his loyalty to the Irish government taking over from where his loyalty should be - with the European people. I'm a bit disappointed...

causal

fjon wrote:

The plan would also establish mandatory tax breaks to encourage consumers to buy environmentally friendly cars with low emissions - dovetailing registration and road taxes, and linking them to how much the vehicle pollutes.

Hopefully this will mean cheaper bikes and reasonably low road tax for bikes too. But we have to wait 10 years, ffs.

Possible Groundhog Day Alert!!!
Was it 30 years ago when joining the EEC that we were seduced with the promise of cheaper cars at european prices - and then along came VRT :rolleyes:

causal

Capt'n Midnight

Couldn't they just increase the VAT rate ?

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/05/22/story4981.asp

Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) came to €946 million, €90 million higher than forecast
199,000 new cars were registered and 44,000 second-hand cars
5 per cent of VRT challenges led to seizure of the unregistered car.

http://www.aaireland.ie/news/article.asp?news_Id=381The government now collects €1.4 billion in excise duty and €600 million in VAT on road petrol and diesel annually. When €1.00 is spent on petrol, 67 cent is tax.

So to get an extra €bn on top of the €1.4bn would mean an extra 29c per litre of fuel ( It's 40c per litre - can't find exact figures ).

Of course if they increased the VAT rate on certain goods they would not need the full 29c per litre - but very, very roughly 1% change in VRT is the same as a 1c change in the price of fuel.

[edit] http://www.revenue.ie/publications/leaflets/coaltax.htm - if you run your car on coal dust ( which was one of the fuels looked at for the original diesel engine ) you still have to pay fuel tax !

http://www.revenue.ie/services/customs/pn1881a.htm - but tourist coaches can claim back up to 0.345c per litre back.

BTW: this may be of use to people getting general stuff posted home but more for the phrase When goods are imported into, or received in, Ireland from a country outside the European Union (E.U.) they are liable to import charges (Customs Duty, Anti-Dumping, Countervailing and Excise Duties where applicable and VAT) at the point of importation. so there are 4 different ways of taxing cars from outside the EU excluding VRT, plenty of scope there for clawing a few cents back of the Japanese imports (then again they could be imported to other EU countries first and we'd loose a lot of the landing fees since most cars are imported here and then to other EU countries ) .
http://www.revenue.ie/services/customs/pn1179.htm Notice No. 1179

mike65

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Couldn't they just increase the VAT rate ?

I have a suspicion that the government can't tweak VAT for a single product/service type currently taxed at 21%. They have to make a general change in the rate.

Mike.

causal

A change in the VAT rate would also affect inflation - well, for one year.

causal