‘Horse bus’ hits even harder
The 2024 Tax Plan announced on Budget Day contains a number of important changes for motorists. For example, the government wants to increase the bpm again, but the motor vehicle tax in particular will increase sharply in many cases. This is the case, for example, with campers, but also when you drive on LPG.
Yes: driving on LPG should become more expensive according to these plans. The discount on the so-called fuel surcharge in the case of a so-called G3 installation should disappear as of January 1, 2026, meaning that ‘G3 drivers’ will also suddenly pay the full rate of motor vehicle tax (MRB). To illustrate: with a vehicle weight of between 1,251 and 1,350 kg, the road tax rate increases from €277 to €407 per quarter. If approved, this change will also apply to natural gas-powered cars.
Campers and horse transport
However, driving on LPG or natural gas is not necessary to spend more money. For example, the government wants to increase motor vehicle tax for campers. Currently, camper owners still pay the quarter rate, due to the assumption that such a vehicle is only used for part of the year. The government wants to increase this to a half rate, which will in practice double the MRB amount for this group.
Owners of a vehicle that is specially made for the (hobby) transport of horses are even more at risk. From January 1, 2026, they would not pay the quarter rate, but the full MRB rate for passenger cars. That hurts, because such a ‘horse bus’ is usually large, heavy and equipped with a diesel engine. For example: if your horse transporter, often a Renault Master, weighs around 2,600 kg, you pay €915 per quarter at full rate in beautiful South Holland. So €305 per month, for a vehicle that in many cases is only used sporadically.
Vintage cars
Our outgoing cabinet believes that the MRB exemption for vintage cars should also be cut back again. After an earlier plan to abolish that exemption completely failed, the proposal is now to ‘freeze’ the MRB exemption at the year of manufacture 1988. Cars from before that time would therefore still become MRB-free, but newer cars would not. This measure must take effect from January 1, 2028, not entirely coincidentally, the date on which a car built before 1988 is in any case forty years old.
Bpm
The idea is that the BPM will be increased again for new passenger cars. In this case it concerns the fixed, i.e. non-CO2-related part of the purchase tax, which would make new cars approximately €200 more expensive. In defense of this measure, the government cites inflation, but that inflation could also cause this amount to be adjusted between now and the implementation date of January 1, 2025.
All proposals still have to be discussed and approved by the Senate and House of Representatives, so there is no definitive green light for any of these proposals.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl