Estonian Car Owners Association turns to justice chancellor re car tax

TALLINN - The Estonian Car Owners Association (EAOL) has approached Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise with a request to check the constitutionality of the motor vehicle tax, because, according to the association, the motor vehicle tax registration fee is in conflict with the principles of property inviolability and equal protection provided for in the Constitution.

EAOL board chairman Priit Tammeraid said that the Motor Vehicle Tax Act is in direct conflict with section 32 of the Constitution, according to which everyone's property is inviolable and equally protected.

"The registration fee, which amounts to thousands of euros, is not legally part of the price of the car, but it is the final cost of the vehicle for a person," Tammeraid said, adding that the registration fee causes a direct financial loss to a person, for example in the case of an insurance event.

"For example, if the selling price of a vehicle is 20,000 euros and the registration fee is 1,000 euros, the purchase cost of the vehicle for a person is 21,000 euros in total. However, since the registration fee is a state-added tax, insurance companies do not cover this significant part of the total cost," Tammeraid said.

If the same vehicle given as an example and costing 21,000 euros for a person is involved in a traffic accident caused by someone else the very next day, for example, neither the traffic insurance nor the comprehensive insurance of the insurance company will take into account the total cost of the vehicle when calculating the compensation, because the paid registration fee is comparable to a non-refundable state fee.

"In certain cases, we can talk about the registration fee amounting to thousands of euros, which a person loses in case of vehicle theft or traffic accident. In such conditions, the car owner's property is not equally protected, which is in direct contradiction to the provisions of the Constitution," Tammeraid said.

The Estonian Car Owners Association is a non-profit organization uniting motor vehicle owners, which last year collected nearly 80,000 signatures against the car tax.