What taxes do we have to pay for having a car?

The car tax stamp is one of the regional taxes most hated by motorists, periodically inflaming political and media debate with promises of reform that are never kept.

Let's take a look at the main European countries to see how vehicle taxes work and the burden they place on citizens.

The rates in 4 countries

We have examined the four largest car markets in geographical Europe (France, Germany, Spain and the UK), starting with a review of the tax mechanism, which is interesting to know in order to understand the underlying logic of the tax system, for example, to facilitate the spread of less polluting vehicles (not necessarily electric).

We then translated the tax into figures, or rather euros, by applying it to three typical models that are among the most popular in their respective categories: the Fiat Panda Hybrid as a city car, the Porsche Carrera 4S as a sports car, and the best-selling electric Tesla Model Y.

Here are the results, country by country, followed by a comparison with Italy.

Car tax in France (Bonus Malus Eco)

In France, car tax, or rather its levy, is only paid when the vehicle is first registered, and takes a number of variables into account. The first is the region (département) to which you belong. It varies from a minimum of €24 for residents of Corsica to a maximum of €51,20 for those in the Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur region, with a national average of around €41.

This figure is then multiplied by the gross horsepower, and a possible penalty must be added to take account of CO2 emissions and weight, according to a table updated at the beginning of 2024. The penalty applies from 118 grams of CO2/km (instead of 123 grams of CO2/km in 2023) and amounts to €50. For each additional g/km, there is a surcharge: 119 g/km costs €75, 120 g/km €100, and so on. From 141 g/km upwards, the surcharge rises to over €1,000 (€1,074), while models with emissions of over 193 g/km pay a staggering €60,000. There's also the question of weight: if you exceed 1,800 kg, other problems arise.

As far as electric cars are concerned, some regions do not charge the tax, others apply a 50% reduction, and a minority apply no reduction at all. On the other hand, the tax does not apply to vehicles used to transport disabled people.

By doing the maths, here's how much the two cars we've taken as examples from the Paris region pay in road tax:

Car tax in Germany (KFZ-Steuer)

CO2 emissions, environmental class, fuel type and engine capacity: these are the variables used to calculate the car tax payable annually in Germany. In principle, the more recent a car is and the lower its emissions, the less it pays, with increasingly strict rules, tightened in 2021, penalising the most polluting models (up to €4 per g/km) while favouring those with particularly low CO2 levels, and even making electric cars completely free.

It starts with a payment of €2 per 100 cm3 of engine capacity for petrol cars and €9.50 for diesel cars, plus €2 for each g/km of CO2 emitted above the 95 g/km threshold.

The sum increases according to the different emission bands:

So, as in France, the more you pollute, the more you pay, with annual payments and a 100% reduction for electric cars. Now let's see how much the three cars we've taken as examples would pay:

Vehicle tax in Spain (Impuesto de circulación)

Car tax in Spain is paid annually and takes into account the gross horsepower and municipality of the residence. There is also a tax on first initial registration, the amount which varies from 0 to 14.75% depending on emissions, with models with values below 120 g/km paying nothing.

There is a table with minimum amounts: €12.62 for cars with less than 8 PS and €112 for those with more than 20 PS. It is not possible to go below these thresholds. As we have said, it is then up to the individual municipalities to decide how much to increase the rate. The cheapest is Melilla, which, along with Ceuta, offers a 50% reduction, starting at €6.31 and going up to a maximum of €56 for cars with more than 20 PS.

On the other hand, Vitoria is the most expensive municipality in Spain when it comes to vehicle tax, ranging from a minimum of €27.21 to a maximum of €355.8. In the capital Madrid, for example, it ranges from €20 to €224.

Discounts are available for different types of car: 75% discount for electric cars and up to 100% discount for historic vehicles over 25 years old.

According to the official Spanish motoring calculator, our three cars (registered in Madrid) would pay as follows:

Vehicle excise duty in the UK

Across the UK, car tax is calculated according to CO2 emissions, fuel type, age and price. In the first year, the amount varies from a minimum of zero (for electric cars and alternative fuel cars) to a maximum of £2,605 for models exceeding 255 g/km of CO2.

After the first year, models with a selling price of less than £40,000 that do not emit CO2 pay no tax duty, others pay £170 if they are powered by alternative fuels. On the other hand, cars worth more than £40,000 pay a surcharge of £390 for the next five years.

Cars registered between April 2001 and March 2017 pay nothing if their CO2 emissions do not exceed 100g/km, with prices rising to a maximum of £695 per year for levels above 255g/km. Here's the table.

Car tax in Italy

Unlike the other countries mentioned above, car tax in Italy is only paid according to the horsepower (expressed in kW) of the engine, with differences calculated according to emission class and region of residence.

To calculate the amount of stamp duty, the kW must then be multiplied by the amount indicated for the vehicle's environmental class (point V.9 of the brochure). Up to 100 kW (136 PS), the second column of the table is used; for each additional kW, the third column is used.

Then there's the question of the tax, which requires you to pay an extra €20 for each kW above the 185 threshold, with this amount decreasing with the age of the car, until it disappears for models over 20 years old.

There are also categories that do not pay car tax in Italy, which are summarised in the table below:

Doing the maths, here's how much the three models used as examples pay in road tax (including supertax, where applicable)

Read also:

How much do taxes affect fuel prices in Europe?

Rise in number of UK drivers struggling to pay car tax bills

The unique case of Italy

If we compare Italy with other countries, we can see that the Italian tax system is not linked to a clear bonus-malus (reward-penalise) mechanism. Electric cars are certainly rewarded (exempt from the tax) and sports cars are heavily penalised by proportioning all other models to the number of kW, which, as we know, is no longer indicative.

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CO2 emissions are not taken into account, and the focus is on power, even if this is linked to the environmental class. It's a logic that led to the creation of the "super tax", launched by the Monti government in the midst of the economic crisis, with the objective (never achieved) of significantly bolstering the state coffers.

The surcharge, which, as we have seen, also exists in France, but always linked to CO2. A value used to define the amount of car insurance premiums, but with no link to the amount to be paid once the car has been purchased. What if the government, in order to encourage the purchase of less polluting cars, were to align itself with the other major European countries?

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