China Set to Tax Gas Guzzlers Hard

NextAutos ^ | 8/14/08

[LibWhacker]

Perhaps spurred by the controversy surrounding Beijing’s smoggy skies during the ongoing 2008 Olympic Games, PRC officials are set to put the economic clamps on the purchase of large displacement engines – in theory the worst automotive polluters.

Using a sales tax system that works on a percentage basis, the government will actually make buying small engined vehicles cheaper – in this case those with displacements smaller than or equal to 1.0-liter – by reducing the tax on them from three to one percent. Meanwhile engines that displace more than 4.0-liters will face a huge duty of 40 percent, up from a not-insubstantial 20 percent today. See the full list of revised Chinese gas guzzler sales tax rates below.

+ China Car Times: Car Sales Tax to Increase Dramatically for Gas Guzzlers

Engine Size - Current Tax - Tax After Reform
Engines smaller or equal to 1.0l - 3% - 1%
Engines over 1.0l but less than 2.0l - 5% - 5%
Engines over 2.2l but less than 3.0l - 9% - 9%
Engines over 3.0l but less than 4.0l - 15% - 25%
Engines over 4.0l - 20% - 40%

[LibWhacker]

Oh, to snap their fingers and double a tax! 'Rats are green with envy.

[unixfox]

Wow, would you look at that, a progressive tax system.

Now where do you think they got that idea?

[BigBobber]

This is typical lib think.

Don’t those cars have modern pollution controls? If so, they produce almost no air pollution.

The air pollution is coming from their coal-fired powerhouses and industrial plants.

However, the new taxes serve the double purpose of making it look like they are doing something and also sending money to the thugocracy.

Pelosi will be next to try this.

[Recovering Hermit]

Here's the solution. The only downside to this is that you'll be reduced to a 30 foot red stripe in the road when that truck in the background doesn't see you...

[wolf78]

Now where do you think they got that idea?

Sounds a lot like the US gas guzzler tax... ;)

[CGTRWK]

Engine displacement has about as much to do with air pollution as the diameter of the pepperoni slices does on the calories in your meal.

This isn’t about pollution when we do it, it isn’t about pollution when the Chinese do it, it’s about revenue and symbolism.