French Car Tax - reintroduction of road tax in France

The French government confirmed on Wednesday November 19th that it would be reintroducing Car Tax in France. There will be an annual car tax to pay on all new cars registered in France after the 1st of January that emit more than 250grammes of CO2 per kilometre. The new car tax is going to be a 160euro per annum tax.
French car manufacturers are going to be relatively unscathed by the new car tax because they don’t make 4x4’s or many large luxury cars. In fact it is reported that there are only 4 French built cars that will be affected.

Many were worried that the government would introduce the annual car tax using the same levels as the existing purchase tax on cars in France with high emissions. This purchase tax ensures that cars that emit more than 160grammes of CO2 per kilometre can pay up to 2600 Euros extra tax on the purchase of a new car. If the French government had set the level at 160grammes instead of 250grammes, the effect on the French car market would have been much greater indeed. If you buy a new car that emits less than 130grammes per kilometre there is a tax reduction of up to 1000 Euros.

This is the first step in the reintroduction of an annual car tax in France, there are rumours that there maybe a general retrospective road tax reintroduced in the near future…. Stay tuned!