Street: A new tax in sight for 2025... (No comment)

A new tax in sight for 2025… (No comment)

Amendment No. I-1268, dposted on Thursday, October 17, 2024, adopted on November 8, 2024 by the National Assembly.

Targeted text: Draft Finance Bill for 2025, No. 324
Reading stage: 1st reading (1st assembly seized)
Code concerned: Environmental Code

This amendment proposes the creation of a “noise penalty” on the noisiest motorized 2 and 3 wheelers.

Indeed, according to the WHO, noise is the second most important environmental factor causing health problems, just behind air pollution. The health consequences of noise pollution are serious and concrete: disruption of sleep, the endocrine system, the cardiovascular system, effects on the immune system.

Although little known, this public health problem affects a large part of the population. The European Environment Agency (EEA) estimates that 20% of the European population (i.e. more than 100 million people) are exposed to long-term noise levels that are harmful to their health. This pollution represents a huge cost for society. According to Ademe, the social cost of noise pollution in France amounts to 147 billion euros per year, taking into account in particular the cost of associated disorders and pathologies and loss of productivity. This is almost the equivalent of the social cost of tobacco, estimated at 156 billion euros.

One of the main causes of noise pollution is road traffic. The WHO recommends reducing noise levels emitted by road traffic to less than 53 decibels (dB) during the day, and to less than 45 dB at night. Unfortunately, these health limits are often significantly exceeded. According to ANSES, 40% of the French population is exposed to noise levels above 55 dB, ¾ of which are linked to road traffic. These levels are unsurprisingly even higher in highly urbanized areas since 40% of the population of urban areas with more than 250 inhabitants is exposed to a daytime noise level above 000 dB due to road traffic.

However, not all vehicles contribute to noise pollution in the same way: Motorized 2 and 3 wheelers (2/3 RM) contribute excessively to this in relation to their share of transport. Thus, even though they only provide 2% of road passenger transport (CGEDD/SDES), The noise caused by motorized 2-wheelers is the most annoying form of transport noise for residents of the Paris region. (Credoc). In other words, 2 wheels transport few people but harm many.

And for good reason : The regulations regarding noise emissions from 2/3 RM are more lax than those for automobiles. Indeed, at the time of approval, while the noise emissions of a private car must not exceed 74 dB, those of a motorcycle are authorized to reach 80 dB. This difference of 6 dB, already unjustified on paper, is in fact far from negligible in terms of sound perception: due to the logarithmic scale used in calculating decibels, an increase in sound level of 5 dB corresponds to approximately a tripling of the sound emission.

Furthermore, this regulatory gap is aggravated by the reality of the situation and practices:

The homologation sound level is lower than that listed on the registration document and on the basis of which police checks are carried out. The latter is measured when stationary, at half the maximum power speed. These levels therefore vary according to the machine models and can easily exceed 80-85 dB(A) or even 100 dB(A) for certain models of large-cylinder motorcycles.
The exhaust mufflers of 2WDs are easily and frequently modified, with the aim of customizing the vehicle.
Some sporty or aggressive driving practices also increase the noise emitted.

So and In view of the unreasonable contribution of 2/3 RM to noise pollution, this amendment proposes the creation of a “noise penalty” for these vehicles in the form of a progressive tax.

Due to the lack of access to the necessary data, in particular on the distribution of sound levels indicated on the vehicle fleet registration certificate, this amendment proposes that the tax scale be set by decree. This scale could associate a marginal rate with each fraction of a decibel of the vehicle, expressed in dB (A) and rounded to the nearest unit as below: