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The taxation of diesel cars in Belgium – revisited

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  • Mayeres, Inge
  • Proost, Stef

Abstract

This paper compares the current taxation of diesel and gasoline cars in Belgium with the guidelines for optimal taxation. We find that diesel cars are still taxed much less than gasoline cars, resulting in a dominant market share for diesel cars in the car stock. If the fuel tax is the main instrument to control for externalities and generate revenues, the diesel excise should be much higher than the excise on gasoline for two reasons: diesel is more polluting than gasoline and more importantly, through the better fuel efficiency, diesel cars contribute less fiscal revenues per mile.

Suggested Citation

  • Mayeres, Inge & Proost, Stef, 2013. "The taxation of diesel cars in Belgium – revisited," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 33-41.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:54:y:2013:i:c:p:33-41
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.11.069
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Alex Van Steenbergen, 2015. "Working Paper 09-15 - Fuel excise reform in Belgium - Long term effects on the environment, traffic and public finance," Working Papers 1509, Federal Planning Bureau, Belgium.
    2. Fung, Chau Man & Proost, Stef, 2017. "Can we decentralize transport taxes and infrastructure supply?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 1-19.
    3. Bruno De Borger & Stef Proost, 2015. "Tax and regulatory policies for European Transport – getting there, but in the slow lane," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven 497597, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    4. Hörcher, Daniel & Graham, Daniel J., 2020. "MaaS economics: Should we fight car ownership with subscriptions to alternative modes?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    5. Rosal, Ignacio del, 2022. "European dieselization: Policy insights from EU car trade," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 181-194.
    6. Endo, Takahiro & Tsuboyama, Yuki & Hara, Yoritoshi, 2016. "Beyond taxation: Discourse around energy policy in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 412-419.
    7. Orkhan Nadirov & Jana Vychytilová & Bruce Dehning, 2020. "Carbon Taxes and the Composition of New Passenger Car Sales in Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-15, September.
    8. Leif Jacobs & Lara Quack & Mario Mechtel, 2021. "Distributional Effects of Carbon Pricing by Transport Fuel Taxation," Working Paper Series in Economics 405, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    9. Gillingham, Kenneth & Munk-Nielsen, Anders, 2019. "A tale of two tails: Commuting and the fuel price response in driving," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 27-40.
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    11. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2014. "Shedding light on the appropriateness of the (high) gasoline tax level in Germany," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 189-210.

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