Sofia city hall mulls 25% hike in car taxes

17:48 Fri 15 Feb 2008 - Elitsa Grancharova

Sofia city hall is now considering a proposal regulating vehicle taxes, which would raise car taxes by 25 per cent if passed. City councillors are expected to vote on the proposal by February 29.

The amount is defined based on two main criteria -- engine capacity measured in kW and a coefficient based on its age, zagrada.bg reported.

In 2007, the car tax for vehicles with engines of up to 37 kW was 0.34 leva a kW, between 37 and 55 kW – 0.40 leva a kW, between 55 a 74 kW – 0.54 leva a kW, between 74 a 110 kW – 1.10 leva a kW and above 110 kW – 1.23 leva a kW.

The figure is then multiplied by the coefficient determined by the car's age. For cars older than 14 years, the coefficient is one, between five and 14 years – 1.5 and up to five years – 2.8.

The proposal under discussion for 2008 would raise the tax for vehicles with engines of up to 37 kW to 0.43 leva a kW, between 37 and 55 kW - 0.50 leva a kW, 55 to 74 kW- 0.68 leva a kW, 74 to 110 kW – 1.38 leva a kW and above 110 kW – 1.54 leva a kW.

The proposal has met some opposition in the municipal council and alternative proposals were currently discussed at the city hall, Magda Atanasova from the Sofia Municipal Council told The Sofia Echo. The draft regulations for defining the amount of the local taxes in Sofia municipality were developed by the city administration and submitted for discussions and voting in the municipal council.

According to the proposal, in 2008 the tax for mopeds would be 13 leva, and for motorcycles – between 15 and 125 leva, depending on engine size. The tax for buses with 22 or less seats will reach 63 leva and for those with more than 22 seats is 125 leva. Cars with a capacity of under 74 kW that use engine catalysts, which are environmentally cleaner, would only pay half of the tax.

The city hall has said it would use the revenue from the increased car taxes to repair Sofia streets.

Amendments to the Local Taxes and Fees Act (LTFA), passed by Parliament last year, have given municipalities the power to change local taxes and fees within a framework defined by the law. The Parliament decided that 2007 taxes would be the bottom threshold and the ceiling for the car tax was set at three times that amount.

Source: zagrada.bg
published under creative commons license

Comments

Comments by Dianne Hatton - 23:34 15 Feb 2008
	Electric going up dramatically, water going up, petrol going up, groceries going up, and now car tax. WELCOME TO THE EU. The community that was going to enhance your life. Now you pay more for things, which are rising faster than salary increases. But soon you'll be able to get easy access to credit cards, mortgages, and severe debt. Aren't you glad we joined the EU ?
Comments by peter - 10:13 16 Feb 2008
	Maybe someone is loosing his mind calculating new taxes? Aren't motorbikes better for the environment as big buses?? Why they get punished for using cleaner transport? My idea is that when people use motorbikes traffic would be more fluently in the overcrowded center of Sofia. Removing unused cars from the streets would create more parking space and give the city a cleaner view. Will there be a tax for waste containers which use quit some space on public streets and also creating dangerous situations in traffic? Including road tax in the price of fuel would make sure everybody will be paying the amount he needs to pay. Cars or buses with big fuel consumption would pay more than small economic vehicles. Would be simple as big consumers automatically pay more.