A new tax on motorcycle emissions has been approved by the Thai government on Tuesday.
Its rate will be based on the size of the engine and the amount of pollutants produced, with the expectation of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions by a quarter.
This new measure should come into force on next January 1st.
With this tax, the authorities hope to help reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and, consequently, the pollution caused by fine particles in the long term, said Nattaporn Jatusripitak, government spokesman, quoted by Workpoint.
Last year, a little over 71% of the approximately 21,000 Thais surveyed by the Cint institute said they own a two-wheeler. In addition, nearly two million of new vehicles of this type are sold each year, according to a report from the Bank of Ayutthaya.
The new emissions-based tax structure is divided into five levels, depending on the type of engine – petrol, electric and hybrid – and the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per kilometre.
Any vehicle emitting less than 10 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre, such as electric vehicles, will be taxed at only 1%. This rate increases to 3% for vehicles emitting 10 to 50 grams, to 5% for vehicles emitting up to 90 grams, to 9% for vehicles emitting up to 130 grams and to 18% for vehicles with emissions exceeding 130 grams per kilometre.
Prototypes and vehicles imported for research, development or testing purposes will be exempt.
Mr. Nattaporn said that these new scales would generate additional tax revenues of 709 million baht (about 19.7 million euros) per year. However, he assured that this was not an operation to fill the State’s coffers, but an ecological issue.