In an effort to reduce automobile usage and greenhouse gas emissions, the Dutch cabinet has approved a driving tax that would charge motorists seven cents a mile.
The plan, which must still be approved by parliament, would use GPS systems installed in each car to keep track of mileage and automatically bill drivers. The mileage charges would be higher at rush hour, for large cars, and for commercial vehicles.
Dutch officials said the driving tax, which would replace existing road taxes and duties on new car purchases, is designed to cut traffic by 15 percent and reduce emissions from transport by 10 percent.
Other European nations are considering similar driving taxes, and a driving tax experiment was recently tried in Oregon in the United States. The chances of a tax comparable to the Dutch tax being levied in the U.S. are slim, however, as that would more than triple the $260 a year that the average U.S. driver now pays in state and federal gasoline taxes.
Article appearing courtesy of Yale Environment 360
[photo credit: Peter Hilton]
1 comment
Installing GPS on each car wouldn’t be very practical in the United States… I guess a higher tax on gasoline would be more interesting as the country has the lowest gas tax in the OECD. (less than ten euro cents per litre, compared to above 60 for many European nations)
As I noted in a previous post – Could America Tax Gasoline More (And Fund Clean Tech)? – implementing a one dollar per gallon tax would bring federal authorities $140 billion per year.
With such tremendous amounts of money Obama and his administration could push a lot energy efficiency, renewables and electric cars. (among others)
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