Gentville Vows to Fundamentally Change Car Pollution Tax – Clear Where Money Raised Will Go

On Tuesday, the Seimas approved Algirdas Butkevičius’s proposal not to apply the registration tax to legacy vehicles. The proposals of the Social Democrat Eugenijus Sabutis to transfer the money collected from car registrations to the municipalities were also supported. The opinion of the Government was requested before the deliberations.

However, the government is currently promising a major reform of the car pollution tax, now better known as the car registration tax, which would become a true pollution tax next year.

“We are currently talking very intensively with the Ministry of Transport and Communications on this issue, a really creative process is underway,” says Minister of the Environment Simonas Gentvilas.

According to him, it is not yet possible to present what the new tariff would look like, the projects are promised to be announced at the end of April.

It turns out that the money raised will no longer go to the state budget, but to public transportation.

“The main objective is, first of all, to use the tax. It is a tax on pollution, it must be an alternative tax. We want to promote public transport, and that is what we have to get out of: how much, what type of financing, how we will charge it, what we will charge and how we will promote that public transport is an increasingly intensive alternative. And who will pay? We have not yet reached the final version here ”, explains S. Gentvilas.

He assured that the Government will present conclusions on the proposals of the members of the Seimas, but the Government will propose to substantially modify the rate.

“We are already reaching a conceptual change. I think we would start speaking in public at the end of April. (…) It is sustainable that there is no need to change every year and that it is a clear signal for the market, for car dealers, for buyers, that there is a clear use of the tax. Not like today, for afforestation, but in fact there is no afforestation, not even the euro. We want to spend quality ”, assured the minister.

So far, it has raised 19.4 million. euros

Since July 1 of last year. Lithuania has a law that establishes the registration tax for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles when their carbon dioxide emissions exceed 130 g / km. It must be paid when registering the car for the first time, that is, when you want to register a new or imported car, or when the vehicle is re-registered, the owner changes.

In total, Regitra collected 19.41 million car registrations between July last year and the end of February this year. EUR – 130 g / km of CO2 was exceeded by 152.9 thousand registered cars. Statistics show that approximately one in four registered cars is not taxed because their CO2 emissions are below the limit.

Taxpayers 71 percent. The cases were new owners of diesel cars, about 21 percent. cases – gasoline.

Emissions are determined more frequently from source and approval documents (68.5% of cases in February), according to the formula, 28.1% were determined in February. CO2 emissions from cars and 3.4% from equivalent vehicles.

All taxes collected are transferred to the state budget, transferred to the State Tax Inspectorate.

The exact amount of the registration fee is only available at the time of registration, but Regitra also provides a spreadsheet to estimate the estimated amount of the fee.

The Seimas presented two fixes

On Tuesday, after the presentation, the Seimas approved two adjustments to the car registration tax. Algirdas Butkevičius proposed an amendment so that the tax would not apply to an inherited car.

“I believe that when we passed this law, we did not evaluate all aspects and today we receive many complaints that in the event of the death of a spouse or other relative in whose name the cars are registered, the automobile pollution tax must be paid. again, “argued A. Butkevičius.

The Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee of Seimas Mykolas Majauskas doubted that this rate should be changed substantially and the registration fee should be done only once.

“Once you register, pay and everything, and now we will change, we will repaint, we will repair something, is it worth doing those things? Maybe we should organize better and make a one-time registration fee”, considered M. Majauskas.

A. Butkevičius emphasized that an urgent change is necessary because some of the heirs reject the inherited car because they cannot pay the tax.

Eugenijus Sabutis proposed to establish that the tax be credited to municipal budgets in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorized by it, since the money is still allocated to the budget.

In my opinion, this could be one of the first real steps to strengthen self-government in the Seimas of this legislature. We would send a clear signal to the municipalities that we are willing to speak with the regions about the common determination to increase the investment capacity of the municipalities by expanding their independent sources of income ”, argued the parliamentarian.

Both amendments were accepted for consideration and the Government’s opinion was sought.