The Estonian parliament passed a bill introducing a car tax on Monday.
Altogether 54 MPs voted for and 28 against the government-initiated motor vehicle tax bill.
The new motor vehicle tax law will consist of two parts — an annual tax for owners of vehicles registered in the traffic register, and a registration fee for cars and vans upon their registration in the traffic register. The aim of the motor vehicle tax is to encourage people to make more environmentally friendly choices when purchasing a new vehicle and to support the extended use of older cars.
President Alar Karis refused to promulgate the law on June 25, stating that its provisions violated the principle of equal treatment. Karis pointed out that while the law exempts motor vehicles specifically modified or adapted for the transportation of people with disabilities from the motor vehicle tax and registration fee, it does not extend this exemption to individuals whose mobility impairment does not require vehicle modification or adaptation. The president deemed it necessary for the law to be reconsidered by the Riigikogu to ensure its compliance with the Constitution.
The finance committee of the parliament made amendments to the motor vehicle tax bill, replacing the previously planned tax exemptions for modified vehicles with support measures for people with disabilities.
According to the bill, social benefits will be paid monthly for people with disabilities to partially cover the additional costs caused by disability. The proposed amendments increase the benefits for children and working-age individuals with severe and profound disabilities and standardize the benefit amount for working-age individuals with severe disabilities. This ensures significant additional support in the monthly budget for individuals with disabilities. Additionally, the benefits for children and working-age individuals with moderate disabilities and elderly individuals with disabilities will be rounded up. The changes will affect all children and working-age individuals with severe and profound disabilities.
The planned increase will raise the support for children with severe disabilities to 180 euros and for those with profound disabilities to 270 euros, providing families with disabled children an additional monthly support of 18.91 euros and 28.36 euros, respectively. Furthermore, the support for working-age individuals with profound disabilities will be increased to 100 euros, ensuring an additional 46.3-56.53 euros per month. The support for working-age individuals with severe disabilities will be standardized to 50 euros, allowing an additional 0.91-15.22 euros per month.
Additionally, there are plans to provide a one-time disability benefit next year for children and working-age individuals with severe and profound disabilities to offset the additional costs incurred by the motor vehicle tax before the disability benefits increase comes into effect.
Source: BNS
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