France Unveils Tax On Guzzlers, Bonuses For Efficient Cars - Guardian

[hatrack]

"French drivers who favour large, gas-guzzling cars will have to pay up to €3,500 (£2,300) more for a new model from next January under a radical green road tax scheme unveiled by the environment ministry.
Part of a new environment bill aimed at cutting air, water and soil pollution over the next five years, the scheme will also reward drivers who opt for smaller, cleaner vehicles with payouts of up to €700.

"It's a carrot-and-stick approach that should cost the taxpayer nothing but should make motorists think twice about the kind of car they need, and the kind of car they buy," an environment ministry spokesman said yesterday. Final details of the scheme, such as whether the tax (or rebate) will be paid at the dealership or at the local vehicle licensing centre, have yet to be worked out. But the spokesman said he thought there was "very little doubt" that the plan would go ahead as planned on January 1.

Under the scheme, all new cars sold in France will be divided into five classes, from the least polluting to the most.

Most mid-sized family cars, such as the Renault Scenic, will fall into middle "neutral" band, category C, and be liable for neither a surcharge or a rebate, the spokesman said. But smaller runabouts that emit less than 140g per kilometre of carbon monoxide, the main greenhouse effect gas, will benefit from a rebate ranging from €200 to €700, as will diesel cars fitted with filters to remove harmful fine particles from their exhaust. And at the other end of the scale, drivers who opt for a large luxury saloon with a powerful engine emitting more than 180g of CO2, or for an outsized, diesel-driven four-by-four not fitted with a particle filter, will face a surcharge ranging from €1,500 to €3,500."

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1245188,00.html

[tridim]

1. Too much logic

In Amerika we give huge tax writeoffs for trucks that get 12mpg and slap tarrifs on Japanese economy cars. Get with the program France!

[Massacure]

2. Good for France!

I hope Kerry does this when he becomes president.

[IrateCitizen]

3. Much too common sense for America...

Imagine that, actually forcing people to PAY to pollute? Why, that's commie talk there!

We 'Murikans know it's our God-given right to pollute the earth and use up its resources, because after all Jeezus is coming down in the rapture any day now and all these tree-hugging commies will be left behind with their hybrid cars and solar panels to face armageddon.