
Denmark to add 180% tax on electric vehicles - jafingi
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-29/teslas-hit-by-180-tax-in-denmark-as-green-goals-get-left-behind
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jafingi
Denmark already has 180% tax on normal cars, and EV's have been tax-free in
the past. But the government is ditching the green goals, and will phase in
the 180% tax on EV's.

Ironically, a BMW i3 (pure electric) will be more expensive than the BMW i3
Rex (same as i3 but with a tiny fuel engine). This is because the i3 Rex will
theoretically go 166 KM/L, and therefore you can subtract a lot from the tax
(you can do that on vehicles going more than 16KM/L).

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SQL2219
"The government is defending the measures by saying they will help businesses
save money and create more jobs."

That is some twisted logic, please tell me how taking money away from its
citizens creates jobs, maybe they mean govt. jobs.

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cdumler
Simple economics: If the taxes pulled from the purchase of cars is used to
facility other sectors that generates growth and that growth is greater than
the contraction due to the lower demand of EVs then the net effect is positive
to the economy.

For instance: In the U.S. taxing luxury, high-wealth goods and returning the
money as food stamps is the number one best stimulus the U.S. can choose [0].

[0]
[http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/29/news/economy/stimulus_analys...](http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/29/news/economy/stimulus_analysis/)

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mtgx
That's just plain stupid. I get it, you don't want EVs to be "tax-free", but
at least make it smaller than on gas-powered cars to encourage people to buy
cleaner cars. When EVs are 50% of the market, then you can make it equal, if
you think you're losing money or whatever. But such high taxes already seem
extreme for any car anyway.

They also eliminated the tax on NOx, even after the VW scandal. Ugh. I was
wrong. This isn't stupid. Just malicious/corrupt.

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markyc
can't Denmark citizens just buy & register their car in another EU country?
Happens all the time in the EU

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dagw
Sure, but once they bring it into Denmark they'll have to re-register it and
pay the tax. As far as I know that is that same across the EU.

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RaleyField
How does that not defy the single market system within EU? If they can get
taxes on cars why can't they do it for other goods as well effectively
introducing tariffs which aren't supposed to exist withing EU.

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dagw
Technically you can import any car you want without paying taxes (basically).
But if you want to legally drive it you need to register it and get local
license plates, and that is what you are taxed for. If you, for example, buy a
car exclusively for racing and never take it out on the road then I think
you're fine.

