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

  • Debating infrastructure funding solutions
    March 21, 2012
    With funding of road, bridge, tunnel and highway infrastructure a topic of debate in many developed and developing nations at present, different solutions are in the frame for discussion. Funding highway construction and maintenance through taxation is falling out of favour in many countries, simply because the costs of meeting transport infrastructure needs are so vast.
    Read More
  • UK report warns Scotland's roads likely to get worse
    November 12, 2018
    The UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers has urged the Scottish government to make long-term funding for roads a higher priority. The ICE’s call comes after publishing its report State of the Nation Scotland 2018: infrastructure investment. In it, the ICE says that the newly formed Scottish Infrastructure Commission must be independent, transparent and be evidence-led in its recommendations to the Scottish government.
    Read More
  • The US FAST Act: a job left unfinished
    April 4, 2016
    US roads and bridges are crumbling at an alarming rate as state governments wring their hands over the increasingly scarce money for repairs. Enter the FAST Act. But is it enough? US state transportation department officials, as well as highway contractors and operators, breathed a sigh of relief in December. For months the highways infrastructure sector waited anxiously to see where the necessary money for road projects would come from. For several years, the Highways Trust Fund – the usual way of paying f
    Read More
  • PPRS Nice 2018: maintenance moves mountains
    June 22, 2018
    Strategic maintenance was a major theme at the second Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit in Nice, France. The world is changing, mobility is changing and so roads must change and adapt for the future.” With this brief statement, Jacques Tavernier opened the second PPRS Summit. “At the same time there is a growing awareness of poor or non-existent maintenance for highways. The question for this conference is how to adapt road maintenance in the face of this challenge,” said Tavernier, in his role as
    Read More

Highlighted Content