Samenvatting

The main purpose of this dissertation is to establish which road (ownership or circulation) car tax model is best to reduce CO2 emissions in the European Union. In Europe, climate change and reduction of greenhouse gasses is a concern among the population, as it is seen by the growing Eco activism as well as general public awareness. In 2011 the European Commission presented a vision on the future of the EU transport developments. This program is essential for Europe to reach its resource-efficiency goals and reducing emissions. One of the main points is that the car taxation system must be reassessed in order to link taxation to environmental performance of a vehicle, or “polluter-pays”. However, there are challenges to EU’s ambitious goals. One of them is the inconsistency of real world and test values of CO2 emissions. By reviewing existing literature it was possible to establish a theoretical framework, as well as understand various scholarly opinions on the issue of CO2 based taxation and passenger cars in Europe. A closer comparison of ownership tax costs between four selected European countries (the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom) serves as a demonstration of inconsistency between road tax models, as well as between the environmental attitudes in general. The key findings of this work answer the main research question and sub questions: which road tax model is the best for reducing CO2 emissions in the EU, how it is calculated in different countries, what are the stakeholders involved, what are the problems caused by the differences in road tax, what are best and worst practices. In short, there should be significant tax incentives upon purchase, such as exemption of electric vehicles from acquisition tax, which will influence consumers to purchase an electric vehicle. There also should be ensured tax benefits for continuation of the car usage, such as exemption of electric vehicles from ownership (circulation/road) tax. As of now, the best road tax model among the analyzed countries is the Netherlands, and Poland is the worst. However, there is room for improvement in the area of CO2 based taxation, for example feebates or pay-per-kilometer tax. This research is significant because in the times of immediate action to help against climate change, such instruments such as fiscal policy can be an effective tool to help reduce emissions in Europe.