|
 |
|
John Attard Montalto MEP welcomed the new proposal by Laszlo Kovacs, EU tax commissioner on car registration taxes to be put forward in the next UK Presidency.
Attard Montalto stated that Malta has one of the highest rates on duties and taxation on vehicles. The idea of belonging to a single market is that the same prices should be paid across the EU. Maltese citizens should benefit from the single market and the same car bought in Malta should not be twice as much as one bought in France or the UK.
This proposal is going to be on the agenda for the Financial Ministers under the UK Presidency. Attard Montalto hopes that the Maltese Prime Minister, who is also acting as Finance Minister, would accept this proposal and work in the interest of the Maltese people as consumers and not as tax slaves.
This would mean that a Maltese person buying a car from another member State, will not be asked in Malta to pay a second registration fee back home, thus removing the prospect of double taxation and providing consumers with higher legal certainty.
The proposal talks about the removal of car registration taxes in a period of 10 years in all member states, ending a levy which in some EU states costs around EUR16,000.
A more environmental approach on the annual taxation on cars is also being put forward which proposes that by 2010 a car should be taxed based on the level of the vehicle's carbon dioxide emissions.
John Attard Montalto stated that this proposal benefits the Maltese consumers and hopes that it will not take long to be seen in force in all member states. |
