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Mathias Cormann, Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), presented Lithuania’s first environmental review in Vilnius on Monday.
PRESENTATION OF THE LITHUANIAN ENVIRONMENTAL EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT:
“The OECD guidelines make it clear that we must address pollution from transport, <...> she grew more. There must be more than just incentives here, ”said Environment Minister Simonas Gentvilas at a press conference held after the environmental assessment.
According to him, the car pollution tax will be twofold: the registration, which will have to pay the first registration of a polluted car, and the user, which will be paid annually.
“We really assessed both economic and energy poverty during this review. Therefore, substantial benefits are provided for seniors and large families. Car affordability will not change, just a signal for the market to buy cleaner cars.” S. Gentvilas said.
Prime Minister I. Šimonytė stated that when the car registration tax was adopted in 2019 at the initiative of the former majority, it was, in I. Šimonytė’s words, “a small registration, a small sales tax”.
“The current tax has a completely illogical element that blocks people with polluting cars, because those cars that were imported into Lithuania before the law came into force, their transfer creates an object of the tax, which is not the case in other countries, “he added. said the Prime Minister.
According to I. Šimonytė, other countries have long practiced the tax elements that are planned to be introduced in Lithuania: the first import and use. According to her, the registration tax currently in force in Lithuania does not meet environmental targets.
Šimonytė: the tax system supports people who drive the most polluting fuel
Speaking about the price of fuel, I. Šimonytė emphasized that Lithuania, balancing itself with the minimum rates of excise duties of the European Union, although it creates more favorable conditions for those who buy fuel, but directs its behavior in a certain direction.
Let’s say that a significantly lower tax on diesel has very clear consequences: people choose diesel cars and we see it in the dynamics of their car fleet. These taxes, consumption taxes, which are not intended to supplement budgets, but mainly to change people’s behavior, should change people’s behavior, ”said I. Šimonytė.
According to the Prime Minister, if the direction of the European Union is to move towards cleaner vehicles and not to create tax incentives for environmentally polluting areas, then taxes must be adjusted.
“But we shouldn’t be discussing here how many pennies a liter and so on. We talk more about management, the fact that the difference and that preference is not adequate, the CO2 element should disappear or should appear in taxation, ”said the Head of Government.
“The problem itself is very clear: the tax system subsidizes people who use the most polluting fuel,” added I. Šimonytė.
As the news portal tv3.lt wrote a bit earlier, amendments to the law will soon be submitted to the Seimas for its consideration, which, in addition to the current vehicle registration fee, will also include a fee for its users. Depending on the pollution of the car you have, you may have to deposit several hundred or more than a thousand euros for it.
The current vehicle registration fee, which is paid every time the owner changes, is expected to be paid only once, when a car is brought to Lithuania from abroad, explained Gintarė Krušnienė, Deputy Minister of the Environment. According to her, in addition to the car import tax, a use tax will be introduced, which must be paid every year.
According to the proposal presented by the Ministry, both the registration and the pollution tax will be calculated according to the same formula. It is composed according to the technical parameters of 2 cars: fuel efficiency (how many grams of carbon dioxide emissions per kilometer) and air pollution factor, which is a criterion of the EURO standard.
One element is the EURO standard and the type of fuel on which the quality of the urban environment depends. The second factor is fuel inefficiency, which is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per kilometer traveled. In this case, the emission limit remains the same as before, at 130 g CO2 / km, and the rate increase starts from the statistical average of 160 g CO2 / km.
In general, when calculating the new tax, the car’s CO2 emissions will be multiplied by the legal factors (Eur / g). The tax will be applied to M1 and N1 class passenger cars, it must be paid to the State Tax Inspection by both residents and legal entities.
The minimum rate will be 0 euros and will start from 15 euros. There are no maximum tax limits (for both registration and car use).
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