Germany to link vehicle tax with pollution

Looks as if the car tax that it currently based on engine size, is about to flip to how much pollution it produces.

Yahoo! News: Germany plans to link vehicle tax to pollution

Isn't it already based on both the engine size and pollution class at the moment?!

And it has been proven that by lowering the speed limit, or just making a speed limit in many places, the ecology would improve. However no politician wants to commit political suicide by introducing such a bill.

Are they really worried about their greeness? In my opinion, Germans are very green and have gone to great measures to ensure a cleaner environment.

Good. The way it stands now is soo unfair and biased to owners of new cars of the German made variety and class of catalysator. My car gets great mileage and is very low in producing pollution, but I pay more than I should in comparison.

In addition to the amount of pollution produced being proportional to amount of fuel consumed... Which is already taxed by way of the fuel taxes, right?

How is pollution class determined now? How will this clearly differ in result?

I think the intention is to award efficiency (or rather punish inefficiency), which seems reasonable. But there really isn't enough information in the story for me, it raises more questions than it answers. Where and when will the efficiency be tested? At the factory? After use for a year? Some owners care for their cars much better than others, leaving the same model vehicle very different after a few years.

Perhaps you didn't know that your car is tested every two years for emissions. The tax however is still based on the year, make and model specs. My tax nearly doubled when I went over some magical age even though my engine is 4 years younger than the year of my car. Even in its ripe old age (ha), my car gets 100km per around 7l highway and 10l city.

there have been several articles of recent in the WSJ (unfortunately it is subscription only so I can't provide the links) about how the EU is growing concerned with the popularity of big heavy SUVs and there are moves a foot to try and slow down this trend, everything from from heaver taxes on larger vehicles to banning ads promoting them. A recent article about how the Advertising Industry is drawing up guidelines on how and when you can advertise SUVs. The one example they had and unfortunately I couldn't find it was the ad showing the new VW touarege hauling a 747. Excellent Ad, makes we me want to trade my mini polo in for one! Those kind of ads will be banned Now this is where it will get interesting, an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object in the form of global warming meets highly paid union jobs Which one will win out. The EU wants tax and other incentives to encourage people to buy small gas efficient (petrol efficient doesn't have as nice of a ring to it) but the only way the auto companies can do this is to move the industry wholesale to Eastern Europe. A total non starter, the other problem is that people are switching from fast cars to large roomy difficult to park SUVs (or as Clive likes to put it "Do we take the Living Room or the Rocket ) The problem is as people get older they find SUVs easier to get in an out of. I'm the same, given the choice between an Audi TT and a full size Land Rover, the Land Rover wins everytime, that is assuming of courese I can afford one

I figure the only solution is for the EU to ban the sale of anything larger than a VW polo and give incentives for the Auto Manufactures to export them to the US and China. That will be a win win for everyone, the EU get kudos for reducing Green House Gasses, Germans get to keep their highly paid union jobs and everyone gets to blame the US for contributing to Global Warming

What could be better!

Dammit. Does this mean Im going to have to take my foot off the loud pedal a bit and limit my speed to 240km/h from now on?

I think that if you can prove you don't have a car and take public transport or ride your bike to work, you should get a tax break commensurate with the amount of CO2 you are not putting into the atmosphere by choosing not to drive at all.

All this focus on how to tax vehicles distracts from the real problem: the vehicles themselves!

The Prius by Toyota, as green as it gets. Own goal for the tank-top wearing, beardies...

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/a...amp;expand=true

Oh dear.

Errr cars don't drive themselves. Traffic accounts for roughly 12% of CO2 emissions. We wont save much by clamping down on speed limits on the motorways (well apart from a few lives) but would save tons if people stopped using their car to go down the road to pick up a paper or worse still drop their kid off on a school run.

Only 10,000 years ago there was 2miles of ice covering northern Europe (the ice sheet ended at Holborn Underground station incidentally).

500 years ago some of the best wine was grown in England it as so warm for so long.

Global Warming BAAAAA

Prius: what do we do with the batteries when the the thing is scrapped. How much energy to recover the heavy metals. How much energy to cart the heavy batteies around in the 1st place.

BAAAAAA

I bet it tried to sneak out two without paying for a Travel card.

That does not seem to a problem here, judging by the huge amount of kids I see every morning on their bikes and on the trains. I suppose that it could be due to the parents confidence that their kid will not end up on sky news as another stabbing victim that was on his way or coming home from school,(like the UK, but that is another thread entirely)

I just wanted to make the point that Toyota, due to very clever marketing, are selling a car that is clearly not as environmentally friendly as they would have you believe.

They're not even that fuel efficient compared to some other makes

Good god, you are agreeing with me. Nope they are not that fuel efficient. You should try working in the car industry and you would learn a lot more than watching top gear.

The Prius spends most of its life driving above 30mph and therefore using petrol which is a highly refined fuel (entailing pollution) shoving a shed load of battery and electronics around. If it were to actually be used at under 30mph then the enviromental concerns would be annuled to a certain extent.There are the other other areas of transporting and processing the product that involve huge amounts of pollution before it eventually becomes a Prius too.

I have said before, TOYOTA employ very, very clever marketing. Smoke and mirrors but it gives the beardys a chance to believe they are getting something that they are actually not...rather like another of TOYOTAs area of marketing

my dad has bought a prius a few month ago. he is saving half the fuel money every months. (he used to drive a BMW.)

edit: he is commuting into munich ever day.

BMWs are no where near fuel and environmentally friendly. Pure status and a crap car they are. If you are driving more than a 4 banger, then you are only about yourself and should be taxed to death for it.

Planetmoni. I am pleased your father is saving fuel but I am sure that you will make him aware of the damage that his cars production has made on the planet (see my link)

Eurovol "no where" is "nowhere" and I do not agree. You are just trying to hijack the thread because you are financially "poor" and therefore cannot afford the brand of your choice, so you are stuck with having to have cheap Japanese cars regardless of the environmental consequences. Take heed of my advice on a previous thread "work harder", you will earn more and be able to afford the car that you really desire which will be, undoubtedly, one of the brands that you profess to hate. I hope that your mobile for the "underpaid, overworked, poor, peasant-class" is taxed off the road.

However, having said that, I hope that a person that drives the same old banger, bone-shaker, as you do that has a valid contribution to society (nurse, health worker, etc) is exempt from any tax.

Chip+shoulder= Eurovol...best of luck, you will need it (by the way, for environmental reasons, I will NOT capture and give the firefly lava to you for your garden as it would be taking them out their natural habitat which is in direct contradiction to your assumed politics.

You are just soo wrong on soo many levels.

By 4 banger, do you mean 4 cylinder, because BMW make plenty of 4 cylinder cars, including an extremely efficient and economical 4 cylinder diesel engine.