Government to introduce new vehicle taxes to push people towards public transport include Congestion tax, Environmental levy tax , Licensing system tax , Fuel labels tax, Car life limits, Freight and Road construction
The Department of Transport has published its green Transport Strategy for 2018 – 2050, that lays out plans for new taxes, and changes to existing ones.
The strategy outlines the department’s plans for the road, rail, and aviation sectors, focusing on the country’s international commitments to cut emissions.
In addition to a variety of broader ways—like encouraging a push towards renewable energy vehicles—the document outlines some formal regulatory changes that are likely to have an immediate impact on South African motorists.
“Road infrastructure is stricken by many factors, but most significantly, environmental factors, the volume of vehicles, and the weight of the vehicles on the road,” the department said.
“All roads are built with a supposed life cycle, however with the impact of the traffic load, likewise because the environment (heat, cold, rainfall etc.) the deterioration rate is accelerated.”
Because of these challenges, the department states that it'll prepare regulatory actions to encourage the modal shift from road to rail and from private vehicle use to public transport.
To do this, the department will scrutinize new taxes and levies – or make changes to the taxes and levies that are already in place.
These are made public below.
1. Congestion tax
In consultation with local government, the department mentioned that it'll assist with ‘the development of regulatory and policy frameworks’ for levying a congestion charge on vehicles entering central business hubs.It said that in this case, international best practices relevant to congestion zone taxing will be taken into account.
“Congestion zone taxing, however, would require supporting infrastructure – park and rides, integrated eco-mobility transport facilities, and bike and car share scheme development.”
2. Environmental levy tax
In consultation with stakeholders and the National Treasury, the DoT plans to review the levels of the environmental levy on new motor vehicle CO2 emissions and expand the tax to incorporate commercial vehicles to effectively influence energy potency and the environmental performance of the country’s vehicle fleet.
3. Licensing system tax
The DoT plans to develop a ‘regulatory regime’ in consultation with the National Treasury to tax vehicles annually and support their emissions through the yearly car licensing renewal system.It added that it plans to ‘enhance the regulatory regime’ by incorporating a three-yearly check on vehicles that covers worthiness and exhaust emissions.
“The check certificate can be produced every 3 years of automobile licensing renewal,” it said. “The check scores will be used to adjudicate a price relative to safety and emissions performance.”
4. Fuel label tax
The DoT aforementioned that the use of vehicle fuel economy norms and standards to label vehicles in terms of their fuel potency and emission standards can continue.“Baseline studies on the implementation of a lot of stringent fuel economy standards (such as euro V) ought to cause the adoption of applicable greener standards.”
5. Car life limits
The DoT mentioned that it plans to introduce car lifecycle limits on the road.While it didn't give actual details of what this could entail, it indicated that a car with an engine with over 400,000 kilometers ought to be banned from the road or scrapped—almost like this taxi recap system.
6. Freight
In consultation with cities, the DoT will assist with rules to ensure that freight vehicles can only enter urban hubs during off-peak hours.“Research will be conducted into the viability of re-introducing ‘road freight allows’ in South Africa with permit pricing reflective the emissions for tonne cargo of freight vehicles, likewise as road-use charges to internalize the externalities of doable overloading from freight haulers,” it said.
7. Road construction
The DoT can develop green standards and guidelines for road construction, maintenance and upgrades.“This can embody standards and guidelines on global climate change resilient materials,” it said.
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