Government to 'tweak' car circulation tax

j Camilleri

Nov 14th 2008, 18:34

In all Organized European Countries, the vehicle Licences are charged according to the EURO CAT. each car has.
Each vehicle manufactured in Europe from 1990, passes an emissions test, and the better they have a more higher category, e.g. CAT 3 is better than CAT 2, etc............but the Govt. decided from EURO4 DOWNWARDS(man. till 2007...ALL IN ONE BASKET). After all the ENGINE produces CO2, HC NOx. not the car itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This does NOT differentiate between Diesel or Petrol, like an A level in MATHS or Physics is still an A level!!!!!!
The owners who have installed a higher Category Rating engine in their vehicle,as maybe their car is in still in good condition, and can afford a 2 year engine........are these going to be punished, maybe because if the car(still in good condition) has 14 years???
Are we really caring for the ENVIOREMENT here, or trying to RE-INVENT the wheel??
Please look at other E.U. countries.
Check on WIKIPEDIA for those who are not in tease!!

Jonathan Grixti

Nov 14th 2008, 16:37

@ G. Mangion

you ae gonna learn your lesson as the unions are all gonna work together....at last people are uniting....i don't blame the p.m for all this but i blame those who voted for him...

Ian James

Nov 14th 2008, 16:18

Tweak away Mr Gonzi but nothing will convince me that this government has a single eco bone in it’s’ jelly like spine. As someone that drives an older 'gas guzzling diesel 4x4' on a daily basis for working necessity, I fail to see how I am being less eco unfriendly than my wife who drives a modern, 1598cc one year old family car (note* not a large luxury vehicle) that manages on average 5 miles to the gallon LESS than my 'guzzler'. My recent VRT showed my 'guzzler' came in 90% below the margin for smoke emission. The vehicle is kept in tip top service condition and is an important part of family life, being able to ferry a multitude of children and the family dog and not kept for any qudos or vanity. Even if wishing to trade my 'guzzler' in to buy a lesser vehicle, I now find no agents want to touch it as it is “not attractive to tax” and so I lose again with €1000's wiped of its' value that won't be compensated for by the pathetic drop in registration taxes. Tweak??? This needs a complete re-think before we all descend into chaos!

J Degabriele

Nov 14th 2008, 14:54

RE M Borg
I am the same situation as you Mr Borg.
Having bought a family used commerial van and had to turn it into private use.It was already hard for me to pay the hefty registration of €349 but considering that it was not a panel van (Mini bus style) I felt content with it. But having to pay €710 for a 25 year family vehicle which is worth 1/6 the price of a luxury SUV ,it does not make sense. I have heard the Prime Minister say that he is going to refine the licence fee . I hope he keeps his word.

Dave Alan Caruana

Nov 14th 2008, 14:40

the new car circulation tax is another case of our government taxing the less well off to help the richer section of the population fund their excesses.

the whole charade would make you think that Malta and the Maltese, unlike the rest of the world, are getting richer every year. Gordon Brown in UK talks about cutting taxes, lowering VAT, reducing energy prices, drastically reducing loan rates, and softening the recession blow. Lawrence Gonzi on the other hand, confident of the average Maltese person's spending power, ups taxes in all directions.

Prosit !!

J.M.Buhagiar

Nov 14th 2008, 13:37

Dr. Gonzi, am I wasting my time?

The way you are taxing people is called CAC.
Comand and Control, is an old way of doing things. .
Quality is lacking. Quality-Thinking is what we need to really reduce emissions.

Why not seek to lead people to change ATTITUDE and benefit for each method that REALLY leads to less pollution and consumption.

The IDEAL method ? A chip fixed to the exhaust that Measures Emission-per-gallon.
Any industry specialist will tell you
A) this Chip is not available
B) to reduce emissions you need to reduce consumption
C) the next best measure is Fuel Consumption.

The more you use it,
The more you do not service it,
The more big and heavy the car is (not necessarily a-big-engine,)

Similalry
The slower you drive
The slower you accellerate from A to B
The more you keep your tires inflated
The more you Combine and consolidate trips.

And many more good/practices increase/decrease consumption and emission.

So: Kill TWO birds with one stone.

Just add a Unit Cost per gallon consumed.

Then All-of-us will be free to do what we want and pay according to how we proceed.

E. Azzopardi

Nov 14th 2008, 10:51

Well, this has become the norm now. So why make the people anxious, worried and nervous if we knew that these were too high? Why all this worry and anxiety amongst the people?????
It effects their work, their productivity (and we want to be competitive!!!) and their private life too.

R. Azzopardi

Nov 14th 2008, 10:28

The funny thing is that until a few years ago, we were urged to buy diesel engined vehicles due to the low cost of Satan's fuel (that's what I like to call diesel). Result? Our roads are full of cars powered by engines that should be only found in tractors.

Mark Galea

Nov 14th 2008, 08:47

Why is it that LPG is never considered for regular distribution? It burns cleaner and is considerably cheaper than petrol. The old notion that it is dangerous [like having a bomb in the boot] has been proven wrong by the fact that it is use in most European countries.
I would not know if it actually renders less revenue to the exchequer....that would effectively answer my opening question.......forget eco friendly fuels if they don't generate enough income!

Joe Galea

Nov 14th 2008, 08:32

On what emission basis was the budget based on? Was there any study? Was there an impact assessment? Btw I remember GonziPN saying Finanzi fis-Sod!! What happened to these Finanzi?
@G. Mangion: Keep drinking your own poison as it makes you feel good with yourself, but try not to force your poison on others as almost everyone in Malta with a brain recognises that what you say is just bla bla bla. Bejn il-paroli u l-fatti hemm bahar jikkumbatti. This holds extremely well for your beloved GonziPN failure government. Now Gonzi is eating the famous election qassatat. He doesn't know better!!!!
So why Ministers (&2nd Prime Minister Austin) keep buying expensive monstrous huge cars like Jaguars, etc?....from our taxes. They should lead by example. Why don't they go for greener less consuming cars? Of course not my dear, they are not paying any licence or fuel themselves, we are paying for them. X'tippretendi?

Joe Galea

Nov 14th 2008, 08:19

Gonzi has no idea of what his government is doing. The budget was just a mere excercise in how to squeeze more money out of the citizens' pockets to make up for the government's continuous blunders and scandals and corruptions throughout these years. The envirnoment issue is just a convenient scapegoat.
Regarding the excessive higher licences or circulation tax (what's in a name...it's another unjust tax), those who like me bought a car 10years ago or so, paid registration tax and other taxes etc. Now we are again taxed and taxed. I remeber EFA saying in one of his budgets, the licences will rise in order to fix up the disastrous roads. Yes it fixed up the pockets of the friends of the friends because our roads are still in a pathetic state.
For those like me having a family car Class 5 Diesel 10years old their licence tax will go up from 174.70 to 306 (+75.2%)next year. In 8 years time it will go up to 403(+130.7%). Conclusion Gonzi gave us 4E per week = 208E as COLA. Therefore, the increase in licence will chew most of it let alone the W&E tariffs + fuel.

Jean-Pierre Aquilina

Nov 14th 2008, 08:13

@deb bugeja:

"After all, if the car has passed the emission VRT test then the car will not pollute."

Like to know which are those vehicles that passed the emission tests and do not pollute.

John Attard

Nov 14th 2008, 08:03

Dr Gonzi - Please consider revising the licenses for small boats. After saving for the last 6 years to buy my dream boat (20 feet cabin with 140hp outboard motor) your govt. penalized me and y family + hundreds of others, with higher licenses and , you put us with the same category of wealthy super rich people owing luxury yachts. This is unfair - plain and simple!

joe zammit

Nov 13th 2008, 16:25

qattusa ghagilija frieh omja tghamel budget done in a hurry and not with the par idejn sodi u finanzi fis sod u il-barri qabdu minn qrunu

ray pace

Nov 13th 2008, 13:19

And what about cars running on unleaded petrol in lieu of LRP and diesel???

Nyal Xuereb

Nov 13th 2008, 13:15

What about boats, or what Dr. Fenech mentioned as yachts? How discriminating is it that a € 20,000, 20 foot boat with 1 160Hp engine pays the same license fee as that of a € 4 million, 200 foot yacht with 4 engines and 4000Hp?

Frank Borg

Nov 13th 2008, 12:48

The new circulation tax to take place of the road tax has nothing to do with the CO2 emissions and environment, no matter what Dr. Gonzi & co. is trying to make us beleive. What if one has an old diesel car and changes it's engine to a smaller, more recent and cleaner engine? He still has to pay the same, and this I confirmed. So we have to pay on the year of manufacture and engine size, not the emissions. I have a toyota diesel car and I will experience a LM104 (242 euros) increase in my road tax next year! So automatically my car's market value has dropped down considerably because no one will want to buy a car with such an expensive road tax. And with the economy situation as it is, who can afford to upgrade to a new car? So much for the finanzi fis sod Dr. Gonzi! Do you think you can keep on taking the people for a ride? No way, You have gone too far this time.

K Xuereb

Nov 13th 2008, 12:21

Well said Michael Lia

Owners of these cars such as myself have unjustly been put on par with gas-guzzling sports cars and SUV's. Hope the revision is quick and substantial. My licence is up for renewal in Jan! Not relishing those EUR 351 at all.

E. Azzopardi

Nov 13th 2008, 12:19

The fact is, and nobodoy can deny this, that there are brand new cars which are causing more harm than older cars. We all see these brand new cars fuming and one wonders why .But why?? Then you have a 7 year old car which is kept in tip top shape and no fumes at all. It does not mean that no harm is being done but one again asks why several, repeat several brand new cars emit so much smoke. And nobody dares to contradict this. It happens in front of all of us. And I mean ALL of us. At least for those who NOTICE things, not just see them. All together now; HEQ M'HEMMX X'TAGHMEL !!!!!

Charles Sammut

Nov 13th 2008, 12:07

This is an old ruse. First you threaten with outrageous taxes, then you bring them down a peg or two to where you in fact wanted them originally and the suckers will forever be grateful for your faux magnanimity.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

Jason Fenech

Nov 13th 2008, 11:11

Actually diesel has a lower co2 footprint than petrol albeit a much higher particulate matter count. The diesel fumes you see coming out of some vehicles in Malta - ex. buses - are probably the reason why diesel has such a bad reputation. One has to keep in mind that many choose to tweak the diesel pump and/or include additives to the fuel. Also keep in mind that the petrol refinement process is more taxing on the environment when compared to that for diesel. Unlike petrol, diesel fuel contains no lead and emissions of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. It is also true that a catalytic converter on petrol cars should take care of the aforementioned pollutants but how many cars in Malta do you think have a functioning converter? How many have had it removed? In a nutshell, it's far from easy to compare like with like and taxation should be based on the resulting vehicle emissions forthcoming from a serious VRT test with no one excluded. For families who can't afford to change cars, some credible incentives should be given otherwise what are we paying taxes for?

L.Pace

Nov 13th 2008, 10:49

I personally think that he should tweak the whole budget, what came before this budget and what is coming in between this budget and the next.

G. Mangion

Nov 13th 2008, 10:42

@ all red Eye'd Moaners

Seems you did not heared The Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi, Yesterday Teaching j.m & c.o a lesson, Welldone Dr L, Gonzi !! people hate Arrogant Attitude of the mlp' trying to redicule the P.M's wise speech.
As PRIME MINISTER DR LAWRENCE GONZI WELL SAID, the opposition is runnin away from realty, and everybody knows that !!
What I would like to to hear is, What is the Reaction of the, UHM, PLUS THE OTHER UNIONS TO THE P.M'S YESTERDAY SPEECH ??
NO NOT THE gwu, you, I and me already DO !
BDY, is there going to be the gwu" Only" Flag at Valletta Tommorow ?
Wellcome to the City.

Michael Lia

Nov 13th 2008, 10:24

The proposal to review and decrease the tax with regards to diesel family cars bought 10 to 15 years ago makes sense. At the time the most economical and environmental friendly family car was a 19L diesel engines (and still are very enonomical if correctly tuned ) when the alternatives where cheaper but mostly uneconomical smaller petron engines.( considering the technology and fuel prices at the time).
Since then smaller diesel and petrol engines have improved in power (much more powerfull and potentially less enonomical and environmentally clean. ) and economy while diesel fuel has been matching petrol price wise for some time and anyone who bought a 19L engine more recently shurely did not have economy and the environment on his mind.
So it is very unfair to tax peaple who bought a family car considered to be very enomical at its time of production be paying such huge increases in tax.
After all cars produced 30 yars ago which are more polluting and less economical but have smaller petrol engines had a negligible increase in road tax.
In fact the the tax on 19l diesel engines has been unfairly disproportionate even under the old system at LM 75.

Joe Borg

Nov 13th 2008, 09:39

this "tweak" seems nothing but a desperate attempt to not loose more votes... so much for eco friendliness..

M Agius

Nov 13th 2008, 09:38

Please note that there are people who were already environmentally conscious way back when diesel was much cheaper and still chose a car that runs on unleaded petrol, even though this was the much more expensive option. Now the reward is to see the taxes 'tweaked' in favour of families who had bought diesel cars because they were cheap to run.

A Fabri

Nov 13th 2008, 09:25

Pretty disappointed and my regret is that I gave you the number 1.
Dear Dr. Gonzi & Co.
Please lead by example.....and than people will act accordingly...don't you think we are chicken heads.

Will you & your staff be changing your big executive cars and go for small electric - eco-friendly cars?? 2 seater will be enough.
Not a single answer how the Govt. will be curbing upon his expensens & commodities.
Measures to mimize elect&water consumption in your Departments.........................
............and than you can start talking upon changing tariffs.
Very unfair that we are paying a much higher price for a mediocre service.
Very nice words indeed by Dr Muscat ' Govt. must work for us not we are working for the Govt.'

N Tabone

Nov 13th 2008, 09:23

@J.Farrugia
Ppl are going to protest against the W&E tariffs and for the govt failure in discussing with the MCESD and not on the registration tax! seems like this protest thing is really getting to you fervent PN supporters what is it? PPL can protest under a labour govt but not under a PN one! :) Are we in such a sorry state in this country!?

ian laferla

Nov 13th 2008, 09:19

how about the people who have been using energy saving bulbs for the past 3 years ? What do they benefit ? What is going to balance the increase in tariffs?

J scerri

Nov 13th 2008, 09:02

People stop moaning

have you not realised that this budget had to be like that because it was prepared for an MLP Government just like 1996!!!

But things turned out as they had and this is the result...

E Gatt

Nov 13th 2008, 09:01

Here are the new rates:

Private Cars (Petrol)

Class 1 (up to 1300cc) were €69.85, now up to 6 yrs old €75, older (eg 10 yrs old) €89
Class 2 (from 1301cc to 1449cc) were €93.15, now up to 6 yrs old €100, older (eg 10 yrs old) €119
Class 3 (from 1450cc to 1500cc) were €93.15, now up to 6 yrs old €115, older (eg 10 yrs old) €141
Class 4 (from 1501cc to 1800cc) were €104.80, now up to 6 yrs old €120, older (eg 10 yrs old) €152
Class 5 (from 1801cc to 2000cc) were €174.70, now up to 6 yrs old €220, older (eg 10 yrs old) €278
Class 6 (2001cc and over) were €349.40, now up to 6 yrs old €390, older (eg 10 yrs old) €493

The new licence rates, including those (pre tweaking :) ) for diesel engines and motor bikes can be found on page 104 at

http://www.finance.gov.mt/image.aspx?site=MFIN&ref=2009budget_Budget%20Speech


The rates for new cars can also be found on pages 100 to 103.

D Farrugia

Nov 13th 2008, 08:45

Gonzi tilef il-par idejn sodi fuq it-tmun tal-pajjiz, bil-gvern jitlef il-boxla. Ajjru hafna lil Afred Sant u issa qed jaghmel bhalu. Iz-zieda fit-tariffi tad-dawl u l-ilma huma biss forma ohra ta’ taxxa, u l-poplu fehma din. Dan hu gvern li qatt ma pjana fit-tul fis-settur tal-energija u issa nqbadna f’ din il-krisi. Gonzi u shabu qed jinqabdu f’ hafna gideb u nahseb li din hi l-ahhar legislatura ghall-PN.

P.Ciantar

Nov 13th 2008, 08:03

What about small motorbikes. Honestly, how haven't the government reduced the circulation tax to such vehicles, considering the massive amount of traffic jams we are having. Contrary such small engined bikes, their license have gone up not down. Dr. Gonzi please react if you really want the population to believe that you are credible.

Ivan Visanich

Nov 13th 2008, 08:01

What do you mean by fine tuning and tweaking of annual circulation tax.What about the new car dealers,doesn't Dr.Gonzi take into account that dealerships invest hundreds of pounds in their people and tools and buildings etc,etc..to have a particular franchise ?,Why is he going to safeguard a one man dealer selling Japanese or UK unwanted trash on the street making loads and loads of money ?.Also another thing , ten years ago diesel was less than half the price of petrol and most people converted their petrol cars to diesel power for economy reasons,sometimes you see engines badly fitted,body panels rattling,most cars will be more powerful without any upgrades to the brakes and suspension,resulting in very unsafe cars.Do the insurance companies take note of this ?.Why didn't change the car to the diesel version if it's diesel they wanted ?.And what about commercial vehicles,these pick up vans designed primarily for agriculture use,bought in large numbers by families to evade annual circulation tax,driven all of the time tailgating other cars by mad lunatics,huge amount of steel driving behind you praying that you won't have to sudden brake.

J.Pace

Nov 13th 2008, 08:00

Dear PM, what about engines that were fitted less than 10years ago, will they have to pay for the age of their car (taxxa ohra) or for the engine age, which is the one that makes the real emmision not the body?

deb bugeja

Nov 13th 2008, 07:53

This is a budget for the well off people. Average earning people or people whose jobs are at risks and have an 18 year old diesel car cannot afford to keep changing cars so their licence will be worst off. Only the well off people can! After all, if the car has passed the emission VRT test then the car will not pollute.

Seeing Dr Gonzi on TV yesterday in parliament, with all his members of parliament smiling and smirking I found absolutely nothing amused. infact I think it was disgusting. many ordinary people even myself are worrying about our jobs and how are we going to pay the new taxes. There are also people whose jobs are at risk or with reduced hours and have to pay their loans too.

VV Bartolo

Nov 13th 2008, 07:39

U-TURN?! ... had the bad impression that only the labour party does or better phrase it USED TO do U-TURNS ... haha

J.Borg

Nov 13th 2008, 07:18

If the government really wanted to wanted new smaller, cleaner cars on the road then he should have waived the registration tax for these new small cars. Obviously the car being replaced would need to be scrapped. As we are now its is still sold for next to nothing and still ends up on our roads.

Tweak???? So all these experts get paid all this money to come up with new schemes and then they are 'tweaked' after the general public points out the errors!!!

Neville Calleja

Nov 13th 2008, 06:53

I really can't understand this demonisation of diesel. I've just seen an ad for BMW Minis for example - apparently a Mini Cooper D or Mini Clubman D produces much less CO2 than its petrol counterpart. This is true of a number of new diesel engines.

E.Mercieca

Nov 13th 2008, 05:50

Dr.Gonzi,
For my entire life I have always voted for the Nationalist Party. It is with deep regret that I have to submit this comment as I feel betrayed.
I feel that our present Goverment is using the enviroment as an excuse for everything to raise taxes and household bills. People are not stupid. I feel that the goverment is using the enviroment more than the world economy as justification to take peoples money. Prior to the election we were told that we were heading for surplus rather than deficit. Now all of a sudden Mother Nature is upset and raised all our bills.
Now with regards to the Car tax. I remember that I was in Valletta,along with hundreds if not thousands of others protesting against the MLP when they raised this tax along with the utility bills. Now all of a sudden my party is raising the prices even higher than they did!!!
5 light bulbs is not the solution to our problems.
Dr.Gonzi Please tweak the ENTIRE budget not just the car tax.

Robert Cassar

Nov 13th 2008, 02:56

I had asked same question over and over again and to date I never got any reply. To my understanding we have the right to argue for the free transport of assets within the EU thus if a car is registered in the UK it should be also valid for Malta however the government seems to be taking two ways and two measures when it comes to interpret the laws. I am not really an expert in the subject so if there is anyone who can give more info it will be more then welcome.

john falzon

Nov 13th 2008, 00:29

What about diesel cars bought by families just 5 years ago, when diesel was starting to increase in price ? Such relatively modern diesels are even more environmentally friendly so why should they be excluded from consideration ?

R Agius

Nov 13th 2008, 00:17

Car dealers have already figured out the new regime and smaller engined cars will cost a couple of thousand Euros less. So yes - it has been figured - to the extent that those with a stock of inefficient cars have already made their representations and the Govt has indicated it will tweak the regime to remove the unfortunate anomaly.

J MULA

Nov 13th 2008, 00:16

CAN SOMEONE ENLIGHTEN ME PLS IF THERE`S GOING TO BE A DIFFERENCE IN THE REG. TAX PAID FOR CARS BOUGHT FROM OUTSIDE THE EU AND THOSE BOUGHT FROM EU COUNTRIES?

George Abdilla

Nov 12th 2008, 23:30

The new circulation tax is not in any way tackling environmental problems, but simply raising additional finance.

The new circulation tax should have been an emission based tax, ie one based on the age or the engine and the emissions emitted by the engine, and not on the age of a vehicle and the cc. The proposed system works on the age of the vehicle, hence it ignores all those people who take care of their engine, install particulate matter filters, change their catalytic converter. measures which government should have taken include the legalization of LPG which would reduce a petrol car's emissions by as much as 75%, compulsory retrofitting of diesel Particulate filters, and catalytic converters. Had their been consulation before this budget, these things would have come out, but instead, government opted to declare in the pre budget doc that the old licence system would not be touched for a number of years, whilst in reality it turned over upside down.

carmen caruana

Nov 12th 2008, 23:07

Okkk fair enough li niehdu hsieb l-ambjent aparti kull kas li kien hemm il-mepa li inghataw permessi illegali etc.....
jien personalment fejn nista nuza tal linja iktar u iktar wara dawn it-taxxi imma nghiduha kif inhi, hemm bzonn bidla fit-trakkijiet u anke kif is-sewwieqa imorru mall-passigiera imma ma jfissirx li ghana niliberalizzaw is-swieq. Ma nafx ghal liema raguni dak li jista jaghmel il-privat ma jistax jaghmlu l-gvern!!

carmel callus

Nov 12th 2008, 23:06

Yes, under the new system, Malta will be abiding by EU rules. There are some 20 out of the 27 Member States which, like Malta, have registration tax on motor vehicles. In the Uk they don't have, but they pay high excise duty (circulation tax) on motor vehicles. That is why one can purchase a used car at a cheaper price from the UK than, for example, from Ireland where they charge a registration tax.
Laurence Schembri should know that, even under EU rules, if a motor vehicle registered in a Member State is transferred permanently into another Member State then it has to be registered in that other Member State under the conditions applicable in that Member State.

Kevin Chircop

Nov 12th 2008, 22:40

As far as I understood these measures were taken to reduce the emissions of microparticles in our polluted country thus reducing asthma and all related illnesses.

Can someone please explain how a diesel engine technology which is 15 years old could be exempt. This clearly shows that the aim of all these measures taken in this budget were to plug the deficit created by gross incompetence of this government to control its deficit.

If the environment is really on top of the agenda, the government should do as other European governments do i.e. give an incentive to these families to buy smaller cars by giving eco incentives for their older cars.

Most probably the children of the families that had to buy a bigger diesel engined car are now old enough to go about on their own. So these bigger cars are most of the time are used by the parents only.

But yes, we are Europeans only when it comes to taxes and sharing the burden. Tad-dahk!

M Camilleri

Nov 12th 2008, 22:23

Whatever happend to freedom of movement in European states?

If I own a car in another European state, surely I have every right to spend time with it here in Malta? To restrict that movement would be going against the principles of a free open border Europe which was voted for by the people.

The government can charge whatever it likes, but cannot restrict the movement of people and their possessions within the member states.

tony abela

Nov 12th 2008, 22:11

I just cannot understand the argument in the above article. Can somebody explain to me why a Diesel car of 1801cc - 20000cc between 1 and 6 years old have an increase of 39%, while the Diesel cars above 20000cc of the same age are going to have an increase of only 23%. I think that the latter is more classified as a luxury car than the first. So the PM's argument is void and null.

I am convinced that as there are more cars in circulation of the first category, it harvest more income for the government.

I am afraid that this budget is simple an accountant budget and definetly not an Environmental friendly budget that we are being gforced to believe it is.

Hallina Wenz!

J Farrugia

Nov 12th 2008, 21:52

If lawrence schembri doesn't know what's happening how can he go protesting as he did last sunday? First you have to know what's happening around you and then pass judgement - the way you want. But it seems that this poor bloke has already decided. And then he tells one and all that no one knows what's happening.

Kevin Scicluna

Nov 12th 2008, 21:26

Can the Prime Minister clarify which cars will fall in the family category cars or luxury cars with large diesel engines aged 10 to 15yrs?

M Borg

Nov 12th 2008, 21:18

I have a van which i use as a family car. It is only about 1ft longer than an average family car, while same length as a station wagon. It has a 2.3L Diesel engine, is 18 years old, but in very good condition. It is really economic in consumption, and when i can't use this car for some particular reason, and instead i use another family car with a 13cc petrol engine, i double the consumption. How can our minister say that the new tax holds the 'polluter pay principle'?

For being so 'economic' in my consumption and 'environmentally friendly' i am being asked to pay more than Euro710 anually !!!! And this when our buses, construction vechiles, similar vans like mine (but which are commercial, having panels rather than glass), lots of luxury pick-ups (which in the majority of the cases are used as family cars rather than for commercial usage), minibuses, etc, are all due to pay LESS than 1/4 of what i am due to pay!

Does this make sense?

Hope the PM will consider my case as well !!!!

laurence schembri

Nov 12th 2008, 20:43

The point is this; does anyone really know what is going on?
The public in general doesn`t.
And as with regards to the Registration fee, are we in the EU or not?
If a second hand car (quite new) is already registered in the UK why should it be registered again in Malta for such an exorbitant fee?
I will ask again...are we abiding to the EU laws where it suits us?