<
https://thedriven.io/2024/10/22/subsidies-for-fossil-fuel-company-cars-are-costing-taxpayers-tens-of-billions/>
"Government subsidies for fossil fuel company cars are costing European
taxpayers billions each year, with such subsidies in the five biggest EU
countries alone costing €42 billion every year.
The new report was published on Monday by Transport and Environment (T&E),
Europe’s leading advocates for clean transport and energy, and authored by EMR,
the world’s largest specialist sustainability consultancy.
Calculating the effects of four tax benefits traditionally given to company
cars – benefit-in-kind, depreciation write-offs, VAT deductions, and fuel cards
– the report looked at six European countries which are home to the largest car
or company car markets in Europe – France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and
the UK.
The report found that Italy subsidises polluting company cars the most,
totalling €16 billion each year for its country’s taxpayers (under an 80 per
cent private use scenario). Next were Germany (€13.7 billion), France (€6.4
billion), and Poland (€6.1 billion).
According to the report, the most impactful of these government subsidies is
via benefit-in-kind schemes that continue to incentivise petrol and diesel
vehicles.
Conversely, tax advantages for polluting company cars in the UK and Spain were
much lower, demonstrating that such subsidising policies are not integral to
good business.
Specifically, the report found that the UK imposes a strong penalty for petrol
and diesel company vehicles through a high benefit-in-kind rate, compared to a
relatively low tax rate for electric company car drivers.
In fact, this combination of high and low taxes has helped boost the uptake of
electric company cars to 21.5 per cent in the UK."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
