Last March, the people of Geneva accepted a new way of taxing automobiles in the canton by 56% of the votes. This provides for a basic tax of 120 francs and a progressive tax calculated according to CO2 emissions for thermal engine cars and according to weight for electric or hydrogen cars.
This new way of calculating reduced the bill for 62.5% of owners and increased it for 33.4%. And there, the surprises were big. Depending on the vehicles, their age and their CO2 production, some have seen their tax increase tenfold from 315 to 3900 francs for a Chrysler Voyager or from 341 to 1320 francs for a VW minibus. Motorhomes are significantly impacted with a tax of around 700 francs which increases to 3840 francs.
In November, the receipt of invoices for January 2025 caused a shock wave in automotive circles at the end of the lake. Ultimately, few people in Geneva, particularly among the deputies, had really understood the exponential impact of the new tax at the time of the vote.
On Tuesday, the Tax Commission of the Geneva Grand Council announced that it had found a transitional solution which should calm things down. Quoted by “La Tribune de Genève”, the president of the Tax Commission, Sébastien Desfayes, proposes a mechanism to correct the excessive effects of the tax: “Concretely, we are capping the increases occurring until 2027. In other words, the tax auto will not be able to more than double compared to the old system during the next three years.
For motorists who recorded more modest declines or increases, the situation is unchanged. For motorhomes, they will now only be taxed by weight, like delivery or transport vehicles. Finally, the tax on old vehicles will be abolished and their owners will only pay the basic tax of 120 francs.
The Tax Commission’s proposal must still be approved by Parliament on Friday. However, this correction would cause the State of Geneva to lose 8.5 million francs. Instead of the 120 million planned for 2025, it will only collect 111.5 million for automobile tax.
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