Increase in purchase tax on plug-in hybrids

Answers to recently tabled Lower House questions have borne out that the purchase tax on plug-in hybrids is to be ratcheted up over the coming years.

Sample calculation: the purchase tax on a Volvo V60 diesel plug-in is to go up from € 463 in 2016 to € 2,741 by 2020 whereas the taxable income addition for first-time lease vehicle drivers for this type of car is set to increase from € 10,200 to € 15,461 over the same period. (Existing lease contracts will continue to be governed by the original terms and conditions.) 

What goes for the Volvo V60 similarly applies to other plug-in hybrids such as the Mitsubishi Outlander, MBW 1, Toyota Prius and Mercedes S500. The State Secretary for Finance, Eric Wiebes, is opposed to offering fiscal incentives for these PHVs as they mostly run on fossil fuel rather than using their rechargeable batteries. He adds in his letter that the amounts shown will more likely than not render themselves obsolete quite quickly as more advanced (and thus, reduced purchase tax charged) models are bound to have replaced the current ones by 2020.