Norway’s Progress Party wants to make snowmobile travel cheaper by removing the vehicle’s eligibility for road tax.
The right-wing party, part of the coalition government, hopes to see the idea become reality in the next budget, news agency NTB reports.
“The government forbids the use of snowmobiles on roads while demanding they are paid for through road tax on fuel use. That makes no sense,” Progress MP Bengt Rune Strifeldt, a member of the party’s parliamentary transport committee, told NTB.
With Easter a peak time for snowmobile use in mountain regions, Strifeldt said it was not logical to pay for something owners were not actually using.
Current tax rules do allow for road tax exemptions for snowmobiles used in areas where there are no roads, but not in cases where they are used for recreational purposes or for reindeer herding, according to NTB’s report.
“Fees should be relative to the services they pay for. It is natural to pay road tax if you are using the road. But it’s high time to scrap road tax on fuel for snowmobiles, since this is not justified,” Strifeldt said.
The fuel use-based tax currently costs snowmobile users 5.17 kroner per litre for petrol and 3.75 kroner per litre for diesel.