Open Access
Article
SciPap-1598
The Right Time for General Road Tax: Evidence from the Czech Republic
by
Petr David 1,* 
1 Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Accounting and Taxes, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 61300, Czechia
* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract: Road transport is a source of emissions of which nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter (PM2.5), and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are most damaging. The economic inefficiency caused by not including the emission externalities of vehicle operation in prices can be improved by using a vehicle use tax. In the Czech Republic, however, a large part of the vehicle fleet is exempt from this tax, which is thus not general. This part of the fleet thus escapes taxation, for which there is no economic justification. To identify the actual ratio of emissions indicators of operating fleet segments in relation to vehicle use tax we use unique dataset composed of national emissions inventories data of the Copert program, road vehicle register data and vehicle testing stations data. It is also possible to quantify emissions production and determine the external costs of NOX, PM2.5, and CO2 generated by road transport segments in the Czech Republic. It was found that half of the production of the emissions in road transport in the Czech Republic representing almost 60% of the environmental costs were not covered by the existing tax due to the exclusion of part of the vehicle fleet from this taxation, especially private passenger vehicles.
Keywords: Environment, Vehicle Use Tax, Emission, Mileage, Road Transport
JEL classification: H21 - Efficiency • Optimal Taxation, H23 - Externalities • Redistributive Effects • Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
Received: 27 September 2022 / Revised: 7 November 2022 / Accepted: 21 November 2022 / Published: 28 November 2022
