Sharing car: a legal and economic analysis of the taxation of B2C car sharing models

Recently, shared mobility has become a hot topic in urban mobility discussions. Shared transportation models, like Ofo in Paris and Car2go in Madrid, affects people’s travel behaviour, generating social, environmental and land-use impacts. Notably, they can reduce car ownership, increase the use of alternative transportation modes, diminish fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and the number of kilometres driven by car, and raise environmental awareness. Through a multidisciplinary approach combining law and economics, this contribution aims to analyse how business to consumer (B2C) carsharing models defy a number of selected taxes: motor vehicle taxes – mainly the registration tax and the annual circulation tax – and (future) road charges. We depart from the observation that these taxes and charges have been conceived in a context of car ownership, whereas new carsharing models are based on providing access to cars for personal use.
The first part of this contribution provides a literature review on carsharing. It briefly points at the rise of new consumption models, it highlights carsharing’s main features, and it summarizes its potential benefits for sustainable mobility. The second part explores the recent policy shift in the use of motor vehicle taxes and road charges in Europe, with particular emphasis on Belgium. Finally, the third part gives an overview of the challenges posed by B2C carsharing to these tax instruments.