State Secretary Snel continues to deny that there is an increase in the purchase tax on new cars (bpm) as a result of the introduction of the new wltp emission test for passenger cars. He therefore refuses to correct the announced bpm tables. This is evident from the answers to questions from the House of Representatives on this subject. In front of BOVAG and RAI Association, the answers are very disappointing. 

According to the organizations, the State Secretary is ignoring the facts as recorded in the KPMG report that BOVAG and RAI Association had drawn up. According to the organizations, his answers show that he has chosen a wrong starting point in determining budget neutrality, so that there is only apparently a budget neutral transition to wltp. 

In total, consumers will be charged € 1 million too much bpm until July 2020, 650, and then € 200 million annually. Only repair of the bpm tables can prevent this. With increasing amazement, BOVAG and RAI Association note that the Secretary of State is constantly conjuring up new reasoning to prove his point. 

However, in order to assess whether the cabinet has fulfilled its commitment to budget neutrality, only one simple question needs to be answered: did the bpm on identical or comparable cars remain the same before and after the introduction of the wltp? The simple answer to this question is no. According to research by KPMG, commissioned by BOVAG and RAI Association.

Much more bpm

Small cars are hit relatively hard. A striking example is the Volkswagen Up 60 hp. From July 2020, you will have to pay 855 euros more BPM for this than for the introduction of the WLTP. Note: this is a car that has not changed in the past two years and is therefore completely comparable.

Another example is the Volkswagen Polo 95 hp. For this, a car buyer must pay 1 euros more bpm from 2020 July 808. A third example of a hard hit small car is the Citroën C3. In mid-next year, the bpm will be on average 984 euros higher than for the WLTP.

In answering the questions to the House of Representatives, the State Secretary ignores the original situation before the WLTP. He uses the current situation as a starting point for determining budget neutrality, and therefore not - as should be - the situation before the transition period and wltp. And as the examples above show: that makes a lot of difference, according to BOVAG and RAI Vereniging.

"The state secretary seems deaf to hearing, he refuses to accept the facts and draw the correct conclusions. BOVAG and RAI Association consider this unacceptable. It testifies to an unreliable government, which does not keep its promises and frustrates the car buyer and car market. We therefore repeat their call to the House to intervene quickly, ”said Peter Niesink, general director of BOVAG.

Much larger sample

The State Secretary relies on an investigation by TNO. TNO used a sample of 170.000 cars for its analysis. However, these are all kinds of cars, both comparable cars (apples with apples) and incomparable cars (apples with pears). The share of comparable cars in the TNO sample remains unclear. The State Secretary suggests that the research that KPMG carried out on behalf of BOVAG and RAI Association is much less representative than that of TNO. 

The opposite is true. KPMG analyzed 1.064 identical and comparable car models, accounting for 280.000 cars sold, or 34 percent of total new sales in 2017 and 2018. Not only is the total number of cars reviewed in this study much larger, the comparison is even purer, because KPMG examined only identical and comparable models. 

The whole story revolves around those matching pairs: have equal cars become more or less expensive due to the new CO2 test system wltp? “There is only one answer to this and that is: Yes,” says Steven van Eijck, chairman of the RAI Association.  

“A new car is and will remain considerably more expensive, so that the treasury will be filled with an extra 200 million euros annually next year, over the back of car buyers. In addition, a one-off additional 600 million euros in overpaid bpm will be added as a result of the transition period to the definitive introduction of wltp in the Netherlands as of 1 July next year. ”

Also read: State Secretary Snel's answers about BPM are no good

Menno Snel - Image: Arenda Oomen
BOVAG Netherlands
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