“The reduction in tolls should not exist and therefore does not need to be compensated with an increase in IUC revenues,” Associação Zero said in a statement released this Sunday.
Classifying as waste the announced 72 million euros in reductions in tolls on highways, which in many cases run parallel to railway lines, the association understood that this reduction is “a subsidy for the highway and fossil fuels, which clashes violently with good practices in the field of environmentally responsible government policy”.
Instead, investments should be made in improving and strengthening the public transport service and therefore the announced reduction should not even be realized and therefore no compensation is needed.
‘If the government wants to tax more emissions [de dióxido de carbono] through the IUC, as a strategy to limit these emissions, it makes no sense to encourage them by reducing toll costs,” he stressed.
This is a measure provided for in the 2024 state budget proposal and which changes the tax rules, in terms of IUC, for category A vehicles registered before 2007 and motorcycles (category E), providing that these are no longer taxed solely on the basis of engine power (as is currently the case), whereby the environmental component is now taken into account.
The increase cannot exceed 25 euros per year.
Despite considering it “legitimate and desirable” to extend the carbon dioxide emissions criterion in terms of IUC to cars before 2007, the environmental association stressed that the increase in this tax could be a “socially regressive” measure because it applies to older cars. vehicles with a lower commercial value whose owners generally have a low income.
The association stressed that the IUC “should not blindly penalize” lower-income car owners, noting that the weight of the vehicle should be included as a criterion when calculating the tax, as heavier vehicles cause additional wear and tear on the road surface. pose a greater risk in the event of an accident and have a larger ecological footprint in production.
Furthermore, Zero stated that taxation should take into account the carbon dioxide emissions included in the Single Automotive Document and that engine power should not be used as a criterion as it is an “outdated criterion that does not adequately reflect the impact of cars” .
“The energy transition in the transport sector must be socially just and the measures to be taken must be accompanied by the expected emission reductions, so that the entire process is understandable,” he concluded.
Source: DN
