Vrt

tinofapples

How long more is the EU going to allow our government to shaft us by charging VRT on every vehilce registered here ?

Haven't they stated that what our governemnt is doing is wrong ?

Someone buying a new car should take them to the European Courts and get this situation cleared up once and for all .

What ya'll think ?

Seth Brundle

every country in the EU is allowed decided most of its tax rates. The idea of tax harmonisation is one that the EU wants to push but this admionistration is against it as they will lose out (no VRT & no low corporation tax rate etc.)

Victor

All in all, VRT balances with lower road tax and fuel excise in other countries, don't expect to be massively better off when it goes. As I understand it, VRT hasn't been formally ruled against.

Actually quite a few countries are against tax harmonisation. Sweden, Denmark and Finland want to keep alcohol & tobacco excise and income taxes high, Spain, Portugal, France, Greece and Italy want to keep them low. The UK wants to keep fuel excise high and income taxes low. Luxembourg and Ireland want to maintain semi-"offshore" status. The associate members (IOM, Channel Islands, San Marino, Monaco, etc.) want to keep all their taxes low.

Hyzepher

The problem with vrt is that it is not a tax on the car or any physical product - it is a tax on registering your car.

If it was a direct tax on the car then the EU might have something to say about it.

The only way to put pressure on the government is for car dealers to seperate the price of a new car into

1) Price of the Car
2) VAT Charge
3) VRT Chrage

If these figures were available on the screens of cars then the public would be more aware of just how much they are being ripped off - VRT might become more of an election issue then.

Hyzepher

Victor

Originally posted by Hyzepher
The only way to put pressure on the government is for car dealers to seperate the price of a new car into 1) Price of the Car 2) VAT Charge 3) VRT Chrage

How about adding (a) how much the manufacturer makes (b) how much the dealer makes (c) how much the salesman makes. :-)

Originally posted by Hyzepher
If these figures were available on the screens of cars then the public would be more aware of just how much they are being ripped off - VRT might become more of an election issue then.

Are they being truly "ripped off" if the money goes to providing government services? The government would just raise other taxes to make up the difference. The real winner from a removal of VRT would be car manufacturers and dealers as they could increase their margins.

JohnBoy

Yeah, Pains me to say it, but VRT is going nowhere, and Probably rightly so.

We have some of the lowest pre-tax prices in europe on cars, and you can be DAMM sure that if the govt abolished VRT then the car makers/dealers would just drive the prices way up and make even more money from us poor fools.

Also vrt makes up a nice chunk of exchequer earnings, and as such if it was abolished every other tax in the country would go up, and then the damm tree huggers would start complaining that they have to pay more taxes for cars even though they don't use em.

Now VRT on second hand imports is bollox

It's already had one government receive a pound of flesh from it's purchase abroad, and now, ooohhhh lets get some more. I'm sure SIMI would disagree, but then again they just want they're members to be the only ones to import from the uk.

If second hand import vrt was abolished then I'd be up the north in the morning to grab me some new wheels. Instead, I'll have to stick to dreaming about classics (more than 30 years old) which can be imported for a fixed fifty euro vrt cost.

Gone

Hyzepher

I do think that VRT does provide much needed money into the Government coffers but surely it could be spread over other sources to lighten the load.

On the point that no vrt would lead to higher car prices - at the moment we get some of the worst models available. The reason we have low pre-tax prices is because the cars are low spec'd. In the UK and Europe the equivalent car is much higher spec'd than here. Maybe the pre-tax prices would go up but maybe we would get more for our euro.

Hyzepher

Seth Brundle

Originally posted by JohnBoy
We have some of the lowest pre-tax prices in europe on cars, and you can be DAMM sure that if the govt abolished VRT then the car makers/dealers would just drive the prices way up and make even more money from us poor fools.

Most manufacturers are following the lead taken by BMW and are going to stabilise pre-tax prices accross Europe. Therefore all cars will have the same pre-tax price and any taxes after that will decide the difference between one country and another.

Calibos

Originally posted by kbannon
Most manufacturers are following the lead taken by BMW and are going to stabilise pre-tax prices accross Europe. Therefore all cars will have the same pre-tax price and any taxes after that will decide the difference between one country and another.

Meaning surprise surprise Irish prices go up. Seeing as manufacturers set a lower pretax price for Ireland because of our huge vrt.

Captain Trips

And as sales go down Ireland because of manufacturing prices equalise across the EU and our end-price goes up, the government will get less and less cash.

I would never buy a new car in Ireland.

And regarding the spec of cars, the high insurance/road tax means people don't spend as much big cars. E.g., the bottom range model always has ****e equipment, but usually the next step up in MB/BMW land has a good enough standard spec.

Basically IMHO I don't think it's worth buying a new car unless you really spend the cash. Instead, import a car from UK, pay the taxes, it's cost will be no less, but you'll get a better specced model.