France ponders a car tax to fund road maintenance

French transport minister Elisabeth Borne is considering a tax on new cars to boost funds for road maintenance, according to media reports. Media reports that the country, once the top-ranked country for the condition of its roads, has dropped to seventh place due to issues over maintenance leading to an increased risk to users.
December 20, 2017 Read time: 1 min
French transport minister Elisabeth Borne is considering a tax on new cars to boost funds for road maintenance, according to media reports.


Media reports that the country, once the top-ranked country for the condition of its roads, has dropped to seventh place due to issues over maintenance leading to an increased risk to users.

A new car tax between €75-125 per vehicle – there are nearly 9 million cars in France - could generate an estimated €3-billion annually.

A car tax is one of several options for the government which will publish its preferences in January.

Other options are an increase in petrol tax and the introduction of a per-kilometre charge for both trucks and cars.

Road Structures

Related Content

  • EU must do more to cut car occupant deaths, say transport safety campaigners
    April 25, 2014
    Transport safety campaigners are calling on the European Union to accelerate progress on reducing the number of people killed in cars annually in the EU, as new research shows 12,345 car occupants died in 2012. The report into trends in car occupant safety, published today (29 April 2014) by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), claims that 900 lives could be saved every year in the EU if car manufacturers were required to fit seat-belt reminder sensors to front and rear passenger seats to help prev
    Read More
  • Russia to commission new Moscow-St Petersburg highway by 2020
    June 20, 2017
    Final delivery of the final stretch for Russia’s key highway project looks set to be delayed – Eugene Gerden writes. I now looks as if Russia’s most ambitious project in the field of road building in recent years, the building of a new high-speed road link between Moscow and St Petersburg, the country’s largest cities, will not be complete in time. The project was set up by the Russian government and several private investors. According to initial state plans, building of the new road should have been compl
    Read More
  • Improving road safety in France and UK
    May 1, 2012
    The latest official data shows a continuing improvement in road safety statistics in both France and the UK. However the data also reveals worrying trends in accidents concerning vulnerable road users.
    Read More
  • US DOTs in critical funding battle
    February 9, 2012
    In the US, state DOTs are preparing for the upcoming reauthorisation battle in a tough economic and political climate. Set to expire by the end of the year, the bill is a critical funding source for many transportation projects in the US. However transportation officials in the US are facing a tough battle as the political and economic climate has changed considerably since the last reauthorisation was passed, shortly after President Obama's inauguration in January 2009. Since then, the recession has contin
    Read More

Highlighted Content