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"Politicians in Europe know they will eventually have to impose taxes on electricity (or else raise income taxes)" I heard that a lot, but are we sure about th

"Politicians in Europe know they will eventually have to impose taxes on electricity (or else raise income taxes)" I heard that a lot, but are we sure about this? Petrol in Europe is taxed at about 50%, but is almost exclusively imported, thus this is the only income for gouvernements. Electricity, on the other side, is also taxed (about 25% here in Belgium). But's it's almost entirely produced in the Union, which creates additional income and thus taxes. In the end the government income generated by electricity production is most probably around 50% too. Add to that the external costs of petrol cars that electric cars don't have (at least not as much), such as the huge impact of pollution on the healthcare sector, climate change, or the negative import balance caused by the import of fossil fuel... And it might well be that electric vehicles will be a better deal overall tax wise.

whatevaa 3y ago
Petrol taxes include road tax in a lot of places, that will have to be replaced somehow once the share of electric cars becomes big enough.
- ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
  Which countries do that? (Genuinely curious) Here in the UK, there's a lot of drivers who believe that road tax exists (not since 1937) and whilst there's a similar concept with VED (Vehicle Excise Duty), it's not used used specifically for fixing roads - that comes from general taxation. Due to the misinformation, we sometimes get EV drivers complaining about cyclists because "they don't pay road tax", whereas EV owners don't even pay VED as it's based on tailpipe emissions. This means that cyclists (and pedestrians etc) are in effect subsidising the heavy vehicle drivers and helping to pay for the damage that heavy vehicles cause to the roads (roughly proportional to the fourth power of weight of the vehicle).
MilaM 3y ago
I don't think we will increasy taxes for electricity. How do you even to that, when most cars are charged at home. The more likely scenario is that governments will impose higher road use charges. That has been a trend anyway in most of the developed world.
- neilalexander 3y ago
  In the UK, domestic/household electricity is taxed at 5% but electricity from public EV chargers is taxed at 20%.

whatevaa 3y ago

Petrol taxes include road tax in a lot of places, that will have to be replaced somehow once the share of electric cars becomes big enough.

ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
Which countries do that? (Genuinely curious) Here in the UK, there's a lot of drivers who believe that road tax exists (not since 1937) and whilst there's a similar concept with VED (Vehicle Excise Duty), it's not used used specifically for fixing roads - that comes from general taxation. Due to the misinformation, we sometimes get EV drivers complaining about cyclists because "they don't pay road tax", whereas EV owners don't even pay VED as it's based on tailpipe emissions. This means that cyclists (and pedestrians etc) are in effect subsidising the heavy vehicle drivers and helping to pay for the damage that heavy vehicles cause to the roads (roughly proportional to the fourth power of weight of the vehicle).

MilaM 3y ago

I don't think we will increasy taxes for electricity. How do you even to that, when most cars are charged at home. The more likely scenario is that governments will impose higher road use charges. That has been a trend anyway in most of the developed world.

neilalexander 3y ago
In the UK, domestic/household electricity is taxed at 5% but electricity from public EV chargers is taxed at 20%.