Explaining the New Road Tax in Germany

It'll take a minute or two to explain the new German road tax deal.....for those of us affected.  Everything is now finalized as of this afternoon.

All residents in Germany must now pay for registered vehicles and RVs within Germany.....once a year, which will be deducted from your bank account (typically set up with the local authorities).  The max per vehicle is 130 Euro (roughly 165 dollars).

Depending on the size of the engine (100 CC).....with an emission class of three....you pay 6.50 Euro for a gas vehicle, or 9.50 Euro for a diesel vehicle.  For the emission class of four/five.....you pay two Euro for a gas vehicle or 6.50 Euro for a diesel vehicle.  For the emission class of six....you pay 1.80 Euro for a gas vehicle, or 5.2 Euro for a diesel vehicle.

The RVs will be based off the weight of the vehicle.....but most of the bigger RVs will easily reach the 130 Euro range.

Foreigners?  They made it as simple as they could.....you'd buy the sticker at the gas station, and it'd generally run ten Euro for ten days.  You can buy a two month consecutive ticket for twenty-two Euro....via the internet.

Start-up?  Right now.....they say 1 January 2016.  Course, they've yet to reach the court episode or have the EU get involved to stop it.  Most journalists are writing up the opinion that the EU court system will have a say in the final matter.

Oddly enough....electric cars have no requirement for the new tax deal.  And motorcycles/scooters also were waved off the tax.

Can you avoid the tax entirely?  That's the odd thing.  If you avoid the autobahn structure and all B-roads within Germany.....just using C-roads or city streets....your entire tax would be refunded.  The question came to how you'd prove this, and what they say is that you would "log" the trips you made throughout the year, and just present the log.

You can imagine explaining this to some guy.....having to keep a log book and show the five-hundred-and-ninety-six trips of the year with the car, and how none took place on a autobahn or B-highway.

How many Germans might reach the plateau of not paying the tax?  I'd take a guess that 100,000 electrical vehicles will easily reach this group.  And I'd take an estimate of a minimum of one-million Germans who keep the stupid log and actually present this to get their money back.