Will the taxation of electric cars be increased soon? While these less polluting vehicles must multiply in the coming years to enable France to achieve its climate objectives, voices are being raised to warn of the loss of revenue generated by this transition for the State. To compensate for it, a reform of the weight penalty – or CO2 penalty – would be considered. What weigh on the attractiveness of electric mobility, and increase the bill for the consumer.
For the time being, the authorities indeed derive significant resources from fuel taxes. Taxation thus weighs more than 52% on a liter of diesel charged at 1.68 euros, according to Ufip, the representative entity of the oil and energy chain in France. Of this total, the TICPE alone costs 0.609 euro, and the VAT on the TICPE 0.122 euro. Attractive revenues for the State, especially at a time when public finances are constrained and the weight of the debt is pointed out. However, the development of electric mobility could jeopardize these resources, by reducing fuel consumption. Similarly, certain taxes allowing the State to pocket money thanks to the purchase of thermal vehicles will also be reduced by the ecological transition.
To compensate for this dynamic, a reform of the weight penalty – the tax on the mass in running order – is envisaged by the authorities. This device concerns “touring” vehicles and aims to dissuade individuals from buying cars that are too heavy and emit CO2. Paid on the purchase of the vehicle, this tax amounts to 10 euros per kilogram, from 1800 kilos, and it is capped at 50,000 euros, in 2023.
“When a vehicle is very heavy, it is subject to a penalty”, recalled, Monday morning, the Minister Delegate in charge of Transport, at the microphone of Europe 1. For Clément Beaune, the weight threshold “is today very high”, preventing vehicles “very heavy, therefore very consuming” from being subject to the penalty. His cabinet specifies that “the share of new vehicles affected by the penalty in 2022 is less than 2%”. The executive therefore first wishes to “lower the threshold”, for thermal vehicles, a modification which would be contained in the 2024 budget: “The priority of priorities is that we buy fewer thermal vehicles”, if is justified the minister.
For electric vehicles, things are not so clear cut. “A debate” is open to impose this tax on “heavy” electric vehicles, as well as hybrids, indicated the minister on Europe 1. “We are not closed to the idea”, he said. added, repeating that the door was “not closed”. “Between electric vehicles, there are some that are more or less ecological in their mode of production, so gradually, the criteria will have to be tightened,” he explained. This change could take place as early as 2024 or 2025. “The criteria will be tougher, because the electric market will make it possible to produce […] more accessible, lighter vehicles”, added Clément Beaune. Hybrid vehicles “will also gradually fall within these criteria”, he concluded. Contacted, the minister’s office refuses to engage further on the issue of electric vehicles. “We are going to do things in stages”, starting with thermal cars, we are content to say.
The use of the tax weapon to encourage consumers to favor light vehicles has been demanded for a long time by certain observers. Last November, a report from France Strategy thus suggested a “hardening of the penalty on emissions and weight, with in particular for the latter its extension to electric vehicles”. Similarly, the document proposed to reserve the ecological bonus for small vehicles. For the experts, in fact, an electric vehicle that is too heavy loses its interest, from an environmental point of view. “The carbon impact of an electric vehicle increases almost in proportion to its weight”, underlined for example the Ademe in a note, in October.
For the executive, this change will therefore make it possible to favor certain vehicles, which are lighter, less consuming and more relevant from a climate point of view, according to the terms of Ademe. It will also fill the coffers of the State in the same movement, an advantage certainly less assumed, but just as attractive.
