Miljöpartiet (Mp) needs money to finance their highly hypothetical national budget. They've already promised their miserable, masochist voters higher income taxes, but obviously that's not enough. Now they want to increase the fuel taxes as well, which will add another 2 kronor on the petrol price.
My only question is why? It sure as hell isn't to save the environment. Today the first generation of "environment cars", miljöbilar, are already up to an impressive 37 percent market share, up 20 percent from last year. These cars are boring as hell, with tiny diesel engines (Volvo DRIVe) or poor handling (Toyota Prius), but people are still buying them - to contribute to the environment and to save money on fuel, on toll charges and on the company car taxation.
When plug-in hybrids hit the market around 2012 or so I suspect the environmental car market share will increase significantly. Seeing as these cars will cover most of their daily driving without burning as much as a liter of fuel not only will they make the fuel price less relevant, they will also contribute to less local pollution. Let us not forget that this second generation of environmentally friendly cars will also be bigger, perform better, and be more suited for a broader public.
And after the plug-in hybrid era perhaps we've got pure electric cars waiting around the corner? Powered by some new battery technology or by hydrogen? All I know is that the research is moving away from the traditional fossil fuel combustion engines fast, and that there is absolutely no sense in pestering the regular car owners with an increased fuel tax at this point. We're simply waiting for an environmentally friendly car that can suit our needs, ok? If anything go bother the car manufacturers to increase their R&D speed.
My guess is that Miljöpartiet is suggesting this moronic tax increase to satisfy their bitter, car-hating core voters. There simply is no other explanation.
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