Die Dieselkrise und die Besteuerung des Kraftfahrzeugverkehrs

Road traffic in Germany is currently subject to two specific taxes: the energy tax on fossil fuels, like diesel or gasoline, and the motor vehicle tax. However, neither can be justified by either the ability to pay principle or by the benefit principle. They cannot be defended as steering taxes either, since they do not provide appropriate incentives to influence behaviour according to the objectives of environmental policy in general and climate policy in particular. Therefore, it is suggested that the motor vehicle tax be abandoned and the energy tax be transformed into a CO₂ emissions tax. This would require tax rates on the different fossil fuels to be proportional to their respective carbon contents, which, in turn, implies a considerable rise in the price of diesel relative to that of gasoline. As the international competitiveness of German long haul transport companies would suffer if this reform were implemented nationally, a European approach to the reform of road traffic taxation is desirable.