[adflux]

This is also happening in the Netherlands.

Not a fan personally...

Gasoline cars already pay tax per mile, as gas is very heavily taxed. Electric cars do too, as electricity is also taxed pretty heavily. (Notice a trend yet?)

The only advantage is that there can be a more fine grained taxation of cars, based on time and location. But I don't trust my government with that kind of data.

[jeroenhd]

The disadvantage of taxing based on fuel is that it mostly benefits newer cars, generally owned by the richer groups in society. People barely able to afford a car are hit by a pollution tax they can hardly work around, because it's either "pay the fuel tax" or "get another job", and despite the so-called labour shortage, that's not as easy as it seems if you're not educated.

In terms of taxing pollution the Dutch system is actually quite reasonable, because there's barely any green energy being produced in the country compared to the old fossil fuel plants. All that "green" electricity is just a piece of paper that says the joules come from some hydro plant in Norway, but they don't actually come from a green source, of course. If you can charge your car by solar panels, you'll be much better off.

Taxing by distance actually taxes road use rather than fuel exhaustion, which is a much better way to tax for road maintenance in my opinion. The heavy electric cars do a much bigger number on the roads than grandma's city car from twenty years ago.

In an optimal system, both taxes would be combined and balanced. However, the government has shown that it will abuse any data it collects for other purposes, and balancing things isn't one of the government's strong suits either. It's sad, really.

[Sebb767]

> The disadvantage of taxing based on fuel is that it mostly benefits newer cars, generally owned by the richer groups in society

At the point we currently are, even 10-15 year old cars can get a good mileage. Sports cars and aggressive driving, on the other hand, can't. So while it's not perfect, I think the system actually works quite well.

Additionally, taxing fuel has the advantage that people 'feel the pain' every time they refuel, which is a lot more effective than paying once a year.

[mab122]

> Taxing by distance actually taxes road use rather than fuel exhaustion

Tax the tires then.

[NovemberWhiskey]

>Gasoline cars already pay tax per mile, as gas is very heavily taxed. Electric cars do too, as electricity is also taxed pretty heavily.

In the UK, electricity is taxed at an effective rate of approximately €2 per TJ, whereas diesel and gasoline for transportation purposes are taxed more like €18-20 per TJ.

It seems pretty clear that that a large-scale switch to EVs is going to cause a pretty large tax hole unless something is done about it.

[HPsquared]

The tax savings and subsidies are a major driving force behind people getting EVs. They're inherently more expensive if those tax advantages were to be removed.

Currently it's carrot and stick, they'll eventually have to transition to a "smaller stick and larger stick" model.

[pm215]

It means you can tax car usage more heavily than would be the case if you just taxed their electricity consumption at the same rate as electricity used for other purposes (like home lighting and heating), in a way analogous to how in the UK petrol and diesel used by cars is taxed much more heavily than petrol used for other purposes (eg heating, or agricultural vehicles). This is useful because it discourages heavy use of private vehicles and especially of inefficient ones (compare the UK or Europe to US car usage, culture, and vehicle preferences -- I can't help thinking US cheap gasoline is relevant there).

In the UK, petrol is taxed much more heavily than electricity currently is, incidentally.

But mostly this is about the fact that currently petrol and diesel taxes bring in a lot of money, so if we don't shift that onto "extra taxes on electric vehicles" then there's going to have to be a rise in general taxation -- which is generally not popular.

[lotsofpulp]

Do they not already have even better data via mobile networks?

I am in the US and I assume the government has access to my location history to however accurate mobile networks are at any time, because I always have my phone on me.

[vinay427]

This wouldn't necessarily indicate the vehicle being used or its owner/registrant for tax purposes. Additionally, mobile network triangulation isn't usually as accurate as GPS or other satellite systems.

[6510]

Not knowing the answer I just read 3 and a half page. It seems the Dutch police only obtains location data in real time and only when someone is a suspect.

[lotsofpulp]

But do the mobile networks keep a log, and can those logs be subpoenaed anytime?

I assume all protections can be dismantled in the name of “security” or a “terror threat”, even in the Netherlands.