The official reason behind the tax is that it is intended to help reduce traffic congestion and pollution. The tax itself is the bad news, the good news being that every other tax for owning a vehicle will be scrapped. Except for the fuel tax...
The Dutch Transportation ministry has already established a system to keep track of the mileage of every single car in the country. It remains to be seen how the prospects of a GPS-tracked vehicle will be perceived by the Dutch themselves, known for their taste of freedom...
"Every vehicle will be equipped with a GPS tracking system, which will monitor haw many kilometers, when and where the vehicle is driven. The resulting data will be sent to a central office, where the bill will be filled out," the ministry says in a release.
Of course, a charging system has also been established. One kilometer of driving will cost the car's owner 3 Euro cents, from 2012 to 2018 and 6.7 Euro cents from 2018 onwards. Of course, prices will vary, depending on the engine's displacement and the size of the car.
The target set by the government is to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 10 percent and the overall mileage in the country by at least 15 percent. Also, the Netherlands hopes the number of people dead in car crashes will be reduced by at least 7 percent.
Cabs, cars fitted for drivers with disabilities and buses will be exempt from paying the tax.
Be it as it may, we anxiously await to see how the Dutch will receive the new tax and, why not, if other European countries will see fit to follow Netherlands' lead. We, for one, are not very keen on the idea of adding yet another bill to the pile in our mail boxes each month. Nor are we keen in driving less than we need to...
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