The final conclusions of the committee reviewing the issue of environmental taxation, an interministerial committee headed by the tax authority, are due to be submitted within days. The committee's intention is to spark a green revolution in transportation in Israel, through taxation. Cars that pollute less will enjoy purchase tax and license fee benefits, among other things, while less environmentally friendly cars will be taxed more heavily. The draft refers to additional taxation of NIS 4,000 per vehicle.
The draft published by the committee in May of this year included an equation for calculating the environmental damage perpetrated by each car. The equation attributes huge damages to particulates, such as sooty exhaust ¬ 20,000 Euro per ton of gas, and another 10,000 Euro per ton to nitrogen. These two pollutants are produced more heavily by diesel engines, and less or not at all by regular gas engines.
On the other hand, the relative weight of carbon dioxide emissions in the equation is relatively low. Since CO2 emissions are directly linked to a car's mileage, and diesel engine cars are 40 percent more efficient on average, they emit less CO2. Although carbon dioxide is a contributor to global warming, it is not poisonous to humans.
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Furious importers of European cars, which offer many models with diesel engines but no hybrid-gas models similar to those made by Japan's Toyota and South Korea's Hyundai models, hired air pollution experts and lobbying firms and argued their case in a hearing held before committee members two months ago.
But the committee's recommendation, which remained unchanged after the hearing, is final.
It now appears that all of their arguments have been rejected, and diesel vehicles will become more expensive to buy and maintain, and the SUV fad will be stymied. The committee has calculated that offroad diesel vehicles are one of the biggest polluters.
According to the committee's equation, a vehicle will receive its green points (between 1 and 100) based on its emitted pollution ¬ the more environmentally damaging a vehicle, the more points it will receive. Diesel-engine Range Rovers received 98 points, the Volkswagen Touareg diesel model received 83 points, and the Toyota Land Cruiser was given 69 points (figures are taken from the committee's draft).
European car importers say the conclusions are discriminatory. "The state of Israel has decided that Israel will operate according to European regulations in vehicle-related issues. The European market sees CO2 as the main pollutant, so appropriate weight should be given to it here as well," said one senior executive.
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