Romania To Earn RON1B Less Than Initially Estimated From Car Pollution Tax

Romania will earn around 630 million lei (EUR1=RON4.2119) this year from the tax on automobile pollution, RON1 billion less than the Government initially estimated, because of the severe drop in the number of car registrations.

The Government initially projected RON1.64 billion earning from the pollution tax, but had to revise the amount to RON636.4 million towards the end of the year.

The tax on car pollution was introduced in April 2008, computed according to each car's technical data - cylinder capacity and carbon dioxide emissions.

On account of the growing number of imported second-hand cars, the Government decided in December 2008 to suspend the pollution tax collected on purchases of new cars, from December 15, 2008 until the end of December 2009, in the case of Euro 4 vehicles with engines of up to 2,000 cubic centimeters, registered for the first time in Romania and the European Union.

Registrations of new cars in Romania dropped 60% in the first 11 months of 2009, to 104,699 units. Registrations of used cars dropped 29%, to 256,173 units.
Last year, new car registrations dropped 8.6% compared to 2007, to 285,500 units, while the used car segment went through an almost 150% increase, to a record level of registrations - over 300,000 cars.

The Romanian car market ranks 14th in the European Union by new car registrations in the first 10 months, despite the country ranking seventh in the Union by population size.

mediafax.ro