Mr. Pierpaolo Cazzola:

Thank you for the questions. The car tax based on emissions, as far as I understand it, is a system that applies at the moment of registration. That is one of the systems that can be used to stimulate transition towards vehicles with better environmental performance. The concept of distance-based charges is complementary. In a way, car owners also pay taxes once they run on roads because they consume fuels that are subject to excise taxes and VAT. Those excise taxes are collected during vehicle operation. The moment we switch towards EVs, those taxes will no longer become part of the Government budget. If there is a progressive shift to EVs, there will be a progressive decline in Government revenues from fuel taxation.

There is a need to address that shortfall in Government revenues. Distance-based charges, which are essentially applied to vehicles during operation and not at the registration, could be one way to bridge the gap. There are a number of regulatory developments that need to happen to ensure that this can actually take place. Some of them relate to the development of digital or connected legal regulations. This big cost could potentially involve paying according to different levels of congestion. This is important in the context of a transition towards a greater role of automation. This used to be a longer-term objective, but it is not so long-term in nature any more. I want to flag that there are tax-related challenges that need to be anticipated and dealt with in advance. It will be important to look into this problem and not to waiting another five or ten years before figuring out what to do about it. As stated, it is unrelated to the differentiated taxation at registration. Rather, it is related to fuel taxation and Government revenue shortfalls that may come in the longer term. I hope this clarifies things.