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Month: August 2020

Car taxes fill state coffers

I wrote in French License that the automobile is the Number One source of income for the French state. Many of the figures I cited have now been updated in a comprehensive article by Erwan Benezet et Aurélie Lebelle in today’s Parisien https://articles.cafeyn.co/61ccea/le-parisien-paris/2020-08-17/letat-accro-aux-taxes-automobiles clearly demonstrating that the situation has worsened for car owners. A sample:

-Fully 36% of all revenues to the government in France come from taxes related to car ownership

-The total adds up to €83.9 Billion, of which more than half comes from fuel taxes (averaging 65% of what you pay for per liter). 

-This figure would be even higher if it included €1.7B for radars/contrôles, and another €500M for VAT on fees collected by ‘auto-école’ driving schools, and who knows how much for levies on parking.

-No wonder it costs €6000 a year to own a car, because €2 619 of that are pure taxes

That’s not a license plate on your bumper. That’s your credit card which the state can debit at will for an unlimited amount.

Some of you, especially Parisians who don’t have a car and green advocates who wish to eradicate them from the planet, might say, “Good! Tax the drivers to hell!” However, when fully 1/3 of the money which pays doctors, teachers, police, firemen and all other public services here comes from the car, you realise how dispicably dependant the state is on automobile revenues. This dependance is absolutely the top reason that the transition to an environmentally healthier economy has been so slow.

The government is already thinking ahead how they can continue to generate car-related revenues as more and more people buy electrics to charge from home. Why else would they force you to sell the energy you produce from home solar panels back to the state? Why else would they promote the installation of Linky electricity monitors to ensure citizens don’t start becoming independent by making energy that can’t be taxed? The state is like a druggie which switches to heroin when cocaine becomes inaccessible.

The fisc should go cold turkey from the car, and instead create revenues linked to labor, by generating opportunities for the populace to further enrich themselves from work.

Read chapter 15 of my book French License for complete information: books2read.com/u/b5MnAO

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