Tax break for green cars fails to entice buyers

Figures from China’s Environmental Protection Department show that tax break schemes offered to buyers of environmentally friendly vehicles in a government effort to improve air quality have failed. The value of tax discounts given under one scheme was just 15% of what the government forecast when it was launched in April last year. The scheme allows buyers of commercial vehicles to save between 30 and 100% off the first registration tax if they bought various classes of goods vehicles, taxis, light buses or non-franchised buses that meet the Euro V emissions standards. Out of 420,729 private cars on China’s roads, only 6,763 applications have been approved. Environmentalist group Friends of the Earth Environmental Affairs Officer Angus Wong Chung-yin said the schemes were failing because they offered only incentives and no disadvantages for people who opted for conventional, less environmentally friendly cars. (February 22, 2009)