Currently, there's a vehicle registration tax in the Netherlands when you first purchase a vehicle. Smaller vehicles and electric vehicles have a much lower tax

Currently, there's a vehicle registration tax in the Netherlands when you first purchase a vehicle. Smaller vehicles and electric vehicles have a much lower tax to encourage cars that pollute less and put less strain on the roads. When you go to another country to buy a vehicle, you still have to bring it back into the Netherlands and register it. So you'll just end up paying the tax anyways. I would expect that if the Netherlands does end up going through with this proposal, Dutch residents would be unable to register imported vehicles unless they were electric vehicles. Personally, I think just taxing fuel-burning vehicles with very high taxes would achieve a similar goal with less fuss. People would buy electric vehicles because they're cheaper rather than due to the cars just not being available. A small number of people who really want gasoline cars can still do so, but they're going to have to pay a lot for the privilege.