The VVD wants to make owners of emission-free cars pay per kilometer driven, according to the party’s draft election program. With this proposal, the Liberal People’s Party wants to abolish the current advantage in the road tax for EVs. In time, the VVD aims to completely convert the current road tax into a kilometer charge.
At the moment, motorists pay both mrb and excise duty on the fuel. That excise duty is in fact a tax on use, because the more you drive, the more you are at the pump and the more tax you pay. Excise duty is a major source of income for the treasury. An EV driver does not pay mrb, but logically does not have to pay excise duties. The VVD wants to change this. The party writes in the election program to be in favor of a kilometer charge for emission-free cars, especially because some motorists now pay ‘considerably less’ tax. Furthermore, the party emphasizes that it is not the intention to ‘force people out of their petrol car prematurely’. Everyone must be able to choose a transfer time themselves.
So what the VVD actually has in mind with this system is a slow phasing out of the current road tax and the introduction of a new system. ‘If we do have a system of paying per kilometer in the future, it would be fair and simple to abolish the current road tax, and only have a kilometer allowance under the heading’ the user pays’. It is therefore not the intention to tax drivers twice. It is not yet known when the VVD would like to implement this measure. Incidentally, the VVD has been thinking about road pricing for some time. However, it is now the first time that the party includes it in this way in the election program and focuses the kilometer charge on electric cars.
Tax equalization
The tax benefit for the EV is increasingly diminishing. For example, the addition for the business driver has already been increased in recent years and will be 12 percent next year. Moreover, this advantageous rate only applies up to a catalog value of € 40,000. In the years that followed, the additional benefit only decreased further. The CDA has previously argued in its election program for a phasing out of tax benefits for EVs. However, that party came up with a less concrete proposal than the VVD. However, both parties already have the same ultimate goal in mind, because the CDA does not want the total car taxes to increase either.
Incidentally, the benefits for EVs are not completely done. The Amsterdam branch of the VVD is calling for a parking discount for EVs, in line with the bill proposed by State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven. As of next year, cities themselves can apply differentiation in parking rates to promote air quality.