Taxing Vehicles Based on Their Environmental Impact
The New Zealand Herald reports:
By
Jason Varone
1:15 PM EST on February 20, 2007

The New Zealand Herald reports:
Germany’s government plans to tax cars based on emissions instead of engine size to help tackle climate change, Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said.
Tiefensee told a news conference early Sunday that German and other European carmakers had to do more to protect the environment, after the head of the UN Environment Programme had chided Europe for complacency over climate change.
“The government will be pursuing that aim and that’s why we’re going to reform the motor vehicle taxes. The size of the engine will no longer be the determining factor but rather the impact on the environment, not only CO2 but other pollutants,” he said.
Photo: Simone Ramella/Flickr
Jason Varone battles the streets everyday during a 9 mile commute on his bicycle from downtown Brooklyn to the Upper East Side. In addition to his efforts on Streetsblog, he is an artist making work related to the environment and technology. Examples of his work can be found at www.varonearts.org.
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