Car owners and drivers who pay a very high vehicle registration tax and/or a very high annual circulation licence fee (tax) have no incentive to leave their car in the garage. On the contrary, it makes sense for them to make full and optimum use of their car to get back the value of the high tax they are paying.

Vehicle taxation as a percentage of total taxation in Malta is the highest in the European Union according to the latest European Commission and Eurostat publication “Taxation trends in the European Union”, 2015 Edition.

In these circumstances traffic congestion is not likely to be eased.

There is, however, a measure that could contribute to less traffic congestion, particularly during rush hours on working days. Young sports car drivers, pensioners, and other categories of people who might not need to use their car every day, might be encouraged to drive their car for less than 1,500 miles or 2,500 kilometres a year, if their annual circulation licence fee were to be reduced!

These cars could be driven on weekends and holidays and a number of other occasions, including times when they need to take the car for a service. Car owners who are prepared to enrol in such a scheme may be requested to submit their vehicle for an annual VRT test to check that the mileage has not been exceeded.

The annual circulation licence fees in Malta are extremely high in some cases. A car that used to be charged US$128 – €118 at current exchange rates – every two years in the United States, was charged €762 per year last October in Malta, that is 13 times as much!

The current system of paying vehicle registration tax and annual circulation licence fees based on the CO2 emissions is flawed.

A medium-sized car with higher emissions than a smaller car with lower emissions could be driven much less during the year than the small car. So which car is causing the higher pollution in such circumstances, the small car or the medium-sized car?

The Malta Automobile Club has submitting a proposal to the authorities concerned to consider the possibility of charging reduced annual circulation licence fees to car owners whose vehicles cover less than 1,500 miles or 2,500 kilometres a year.

Alfred A. Farrugia