Taxes: taxation of passengers cars at national and Community levels

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Mary HONEYBALL (PES, United Kingdom) on the Commission's Communication. (Please see the document dated 08/07/03.) The Commission's proposals on a temporary solution regarding registration taxes must be presented as soon as practicable. Furthermore, Parliament added that an annual circulation tax is a transparent instrument clearly identifying the component parts relating to emission and consumption levels and is easily understandable and easy to use. It asked the Commission for a proposal on the structure of car purchase taxes and/or annual road taxes in the EU, which might include the following points: - an exclusive focus on emissions which affect the environment (vehicle emissions, particles and carbon dioxide), - classification of each vehicle type according to EU directives on vehicle emission reductions (EURO I, II, III) and establishment of a basic tax for each type which would take account of any lower excise duty on diesel fuel, - a progressively graduated CO2 supplement to be levied on passenger cars producing more than 120 g/km of CO2 emissions, which would be added to the basic tax to calculate the final tax level, - rebates to be allowed for vehicles with less than 120 g/km of CO2 emissions, to be structured so as to ensure that 'three-litre cars' are tax-free. Parliament pointed out that the proposal to remove the favourable tax treatment for diesel cars in most Member States may be counterproductive insofar as the objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is concerned.�