Romania’s car tax saga is drawing near the end, Cabinet is to modify it in its next session

The change of the car tax is the first step towards the suspension of the infringement procedure against Romania, which will be fully withdrawn after the new car tax is approved by the Parliament.

The car tax will be set in accordance with the age of the car, as lower taxes will be paid for old vehicles and a limit of 20 years will be set regarding the age of the cars for which the tax is levied, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu formerly said.

The official explained that lower car taxes will be established and, depending on the age of a car, some 90 percent tax exemptions could be applied to old cars. Tariceanu noted the government wants to return the residual value of the tax to those who sell cars registered in Romania to EU citizens.

According to another rule, people who pay such a tax will have the possibility to appeal it in court. Tariceanu resumed the idea saying the car tax is not of fiscal nature but one meant to finance the protection of the environment. He argued three quarters of the CO2 emissions in Bucharest come from the traffic.

EC called Romania's first-time registration tax a breach of the country’s European Union accession treaty. The body has asked the government to modify the tax and eliminate discrepancies in the way it is applied, as it exempts used cars originating from Romania and taxes those brought from abroad.

The first-time registration tax, applied since January 1, 2007 is calculated on three variables and ranges from 68 euros for new cars to 8,586 euros for certain cars more than six years old.

The tax for a two-year old car with a 1,400 cc engine was cut from 284 euros to 139 euros and taxes for cars with 1,600 cc engine were trimmed from 324 euros to 159 euros. Romania presented the EC a fine-tuned, first-time car registration tax at the end of April in accordance with the commission’s demands that the country calculate the tax based on the age of the car. Taxes on cars older than 15 years will also be cut from 4,579 euros to 2,861 euros.

Sursa: NewsIn