Economy

Company cars, Euro-bloodletting in force

Another act of the euro-green mess takes place. The new tax legislation on corporate benefits, in particular vehicles, comes into force, created specifically to force firms and companies to equip themselves with electric vehicles. The old story is the same: the greener you are, the less taxes you pay. Which in a free market full of proposals could also work, but in the current one it is a disaster. The reason is simple: not being able to attack existing rental contracts, those who have them hold on to them or try to lengthen them as much as possible, while those who change their car fleet will do so by favoring plug-in hybrids because they are more deductible, because in any case they also go without recharging them at the charging station and therefore end up polluting as much, if not more, than before.

Let’s say it clearly: taking advantage of public top-ups is complicated and expensive, as motorists who have switched from the pure electric experience and returned to the internal combustion engine for work know well. That of the charging stations is a tragedy foretold: the companies that have the space and the economic and technical possibility to install them on site are few; employees who travel thousands of kilometers a month will have to review travel times, while those who use the vehicle for the home-work journey and cannot recharge at home will have to take careful account of autonomy and taxes.

At the same time, taxes for petrol and diesel cars are increasing. It is not the first time, it had happened, but in a more simplified way, already in 2020, when the method based on carbon dioxide emissions came into force. Before then, taxation was independent of the type of fuel supplied by the car, with a fixed percentage of 30% of the cost. Emission bands appeared in 2020 and until last year the bands were up to 60 g/km: 25% of the cost per kilometre; between 61 and 160g/km: 30% of the cost per kilometre; between 161 and 190 g/km: 50% of the kilometric cost and above 190 g/km 60%. With the applicable values ​​obtained from the annual ACI tables and multiplied by a standard mileage of 15,000 km per year.

Now, however, the calculation is based on the type of fuel supply of the vehicle, as stated in the Budget Law, thus company cars used for mixed use will be taxed at 10% of the cost per kilometer if electric; 20% if hybrid, 50% if petrol or diesel. All always based on ACI tables and 15,000 kilometers per year. And since the entry into force of this delirium had been announced months in advance, the hunt for green vehicles with the most accessible cost was unleashed within companies. If previously a middle management employee with a RAL of around 50,000 euros was assigned a car that cost from 25,000 to 40,000 euros, now we are talking about 35,000-60,000, a real drain on the budgets, especially of small and medium-sized businesses.

Result: taking an electric car like the Tesla Model 3 as an example, you will pay around 640 euros, while a plug-in hybrid with emissions of less than 50 g/km of CO2 will take a “punch” of almost 2,500 euros and a Euro 6 diesel will cost you a lot 8,000. Considering these numbers there will inevitably be a tendency to give up cars for mixed use (which however are part of employment contracts) and a greater use of public transport, which is perhaps the true purpose of the measure conceived in Brussels and imposed on all member countries . And if the company pays for the charging station at Volkswagen employees at home (as if it weren’t already in crisis), the Italian branches of German companies are forced to buy what they decide in their homeland. Where unfortunately there are no Alpiné Apennines to cross, but the columns work better than in Italy.