Netherlands to levy 'green' road tax by the kilometre
November 13, 2009
Cars sit in traffic on a highway. The Dutch government said Friday it wants to introduce a "green" road tax by the kilometre from 2012 aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent and halving congestion.
The Dutch government said Friday it wants to introduce a "green" road tax by the kilometre from 2012 aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent and halving congestion.
"Each vehicle will be equipped with a GPS device that tracks how many kilometres are driven and when and where. This data will be then be sent to a collection agency that will send out the bill," the transport ministry said in a statement.
Ownership and sales taxes, about a quarter of the cost of a new car, will be scrapped and replaced by the "price per kilometre" system aimed at cutting the Netherlands' carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent.
"Traffic jams will be halved and it helps the environment," the ministry said.
Dutch motorists driving a standard family saloon will be charged 3 euro cents per kilometre (seven US cents per mile) in 2012. That would increase to 6.7 cents (16 US cents per mile) in 2018, according to the proposed law.
Every vehicle type will have a base rate, which depends on its size, weight and carbon dioxide emissions.
Taxis, vehicles for the disabled, buses, motorcycles and classic cars will all be exempt.
"An alternative payment will be introduced for foreign vehicles," the ministry statement added.
The Dutch cabinet approved the road tax bill on Friday. It will need the backing of parliament before it becomes law.
(c) 2009 AFP
Sep 17, 2009 |
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The gasoline tax is already at 311% (excise and value added tax together). The price per driven kilometer will differ depending on when and where you drive. That way they are trying to lower the amount of traffic jams. A commuter that has to travel approximately 50 km a day will be taxed for an extra 300 euros every month compared to the current situation. Another good reason for many people to stop working. When you are working for minimum wage you receive 11022.40 euros each year, while you can get 10877.40 from the government while doing nothing. Why work your ass of fulltime for 145 euros? With this new tax burden you'll be better of not working at all. Socialists are trying very hard to completely ruin our economy...
Eyes on the prize: lower CO2 output, less traffic. It's an admirable goal, but bound to stir up those not willing to embrace change.
Truth be told, the new tax is said to (partly) replace the road-tax and ownership tax for cars that we already have, but I don't believe one word of the promise that overall the average joe wouldn't pay more, that's only if everybody keeps their car parked in front of their home. I don't think that will happen, we will see a slowdown in the explosive growth of traffic or even a small decline, but not at zero sum.
This is just another piece of privacy removed, building the perfect control state. After fingerprints (put in database as well) we all become suspect on for hand. Meanwhile real criminals would have no problem to avoid monitoring.
Soon, you would have to explain what you did there that day when they found your finger prints, phone records, travel information by car and the new card system for public transport. Everyone will be investigated and questioned, meanwhile the real terrorist who placed the bomb already left the country.
Hitler and Stalin would be jealous about all the private information they collect today, and we all just accept it, why? Soon we don't need jails anymore, whole world would a jail by itself.
What will they charge vehicles in invading armies? Are airplanes exempt based upon how high they fly?
Will the trips (one way) to the ovens and gas chambers be pro-rated for those people deemed to be non-productive in the green movement?
The liters/gallons used of gasoline is always linear with the kilometers driven, linear with the amount of gas emissions, linear with the size of the car.
GPS... Don't make me laugh....
The reason for taxes may be creating extra jobs.
The only reason I can see is sale of equipment and full control. The Netherlands is where the IRS agents go to homes and count teeth-brushes to see if you live alone or together to charge you more. Dutch tax collectors are worse then the gestapo. Now they will know where this LAT relation guy is 65% of the time and charge.
Waar doet u het van meneer? your car was located at Yab Yum five times this month.
And I tell you one thing, they will do it in the Netherlands. They use credit card information, information from neighbors through special phonenumbers where you can tip the IRS etc.
They fall over pennies and don't care to loose millions on useless rail tracks.