6 May 2008Dutch Uncle is watchingNote the clever use of the word "improve":
The Netherlands has decided to improve the country's road tax by taxing according to the vehicle type, usage, hour and roads the vehicle is using. The system uses GPS, a car transmitter and a standard cell phone GSM network to send this information to a central computer that processes the information. Once these figures are calculated, the driver is charged. Congestion and the environment are both taken into consideration in the rate scheme. Using a highway that enters a city in peak hours while driving an SUV will be taxed more than driving a small car in a rural area where private vehicles are more of a necessity.
This, of course, could not possibly have anything to do with the fact that the EU mandate for more fuel-efficient cars means less fuel tax flowing into the Dutch treasury. (See, for instance, this Oregon proposal from five years ago.) "Full deployment" of the system is expected by 2016. Posted at 6:59 AM to Driver's SeatThe only reason they do this is to tax people with higher income again much more. Here in NL you are not allowed to work harder than others and then drive a bigger car Posted by: stefan at 7:14 AM on 6 May 2008 |