Per-Kilometer-Driven Tax on Vehicles

(The Netherlands) Effective 2012, Dutch drivers will be monitored by satellite and pay taxes on a per-kilometers-driven basis. Present promise is that the tax will increase every year until 2018. After that is anyone's guess.

The Cabinet approved a bill Friday calling for drivers of an average passenger car to pay a base rate of euro0.03 per 1 kilometer (7 US cents per mile), beginning in 2012. Drivers of heavier, more polluting vehicles will pay more, and the cost will go up for driving in peak hours.

GPS will track the time, hour and place each car moves and send the data to a billing agency.

The Transport Ministry predicts a decrease in traffic. Of course, now that individual cars are tracked by GPS, it's logical to ultimately expect GPS tracking of citizens.

In any event, the Minister of Transportation, Camiel Eurlings, said that the kilometer tax would cut carbon emissions in half.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.