The amendment by Grouville Constable John Le Maistre called on Vehicles Emissions Duty to be raised by five per cent, rather than the initial 2.5 per cent proposed by Treasury Minister Alan Maclean. VED is paid when a vehicle is first registered in the Island.
And following Mr Le Maistre’s successful amendment, more vehicles will now be charged VED.
Several Members, including Deputies Simon Brée and Murray Norton, said the money from VED – an estimated additional £2.2 million each year – should be ring-fenced and put towards green policies.
Mr Le Maistre said: ‘The States don’t tend to hypothecate, but I don’t have a problem with that.’
He added that the money could potentially be put towards improving the buses or providing grants for electronic bikes, but added that his core intention for increasing the duty was to promote cleaner vehicles and reduce pollution in the Island – particularly in St Helier.
Senator Maclean accepted the Constable’s proposals and voted in favour of upping the VED rates.
The proposals were ultimately approved by 35 votes to eight on raising VED by five per cent and by 33 votes to ten on reducing the rate the duty is charged at. The proposals will only come into force if the overall Budget proposition is approved later this week.
Speaking following the vote, Miles Jude, managing director at Derek Warwick Honda and President of the Jersey Motor Traders Association, said: ‘I think the main crux of the issue is that increasing the price of new and newly imported vehicles does not actually effectively discourage people from changing cars and effectively encourages them to retain existing older and more polluting cars.
‘We all know that a modern car is so much less polluting than a car of say ten years ago.
‘If they genuinely wanted to deal with emissions, air pollution and air quality, they should be looking to do this not just to the motor trade, but by bringing in an Island tax on carbon emissions and an annual emission test [on all vehicles].’
