Vehicle trade: Older cars will only be replaced later by more environmentally friendly ones.
Also on Monday, the planned increase in the standard consumption tax (NoVA) in the course of the greening of the tax system met with criticism from affected industries. The NoVA increase in July 2021 will mean that older cars will be driven longer instead of replacing them with new, more environmentally friendly ones, the vehicle trade said. As a result, important CO2 savings potential remains unused, said Federal Committee Chairman Klaus Edelsbrunner in a broadcast.
The expansion of the NoVA to the small transport industry was “another bitter blow for the goods transport industry”, said the responsible professional association chairman Günther Reder. Nationwide, almost 6,200 small transporters are affected by the planned increase in prices. Vehicles powered by electricity or hydrogen will be excluded from the NoVA in the future, but these technologies are “not yet economically viable in the commercial vehicle sector”.
Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) was calm in spite of the displeasure from the business community in the morning: “I don't think anyone is surprised that we are also implementing measures from the government program,” he said. Anyone who is against the measure will criticize it, regardless of when the measure is implemented.
