Les taxes d'immatriculation à l'épreuve de la libre circulation des marchandises

Although tax matters remain principally governed by national law, EU law determines and limits Member States’ policy choices to some extent. Vehicle registration taxes are no exception in that context. This contribution revisits and analyses the impact of EU free movement of goods law on the design and operation of such taxes. Building on an in-depth analysis of relevant CJEU case law on vehicle registration taxes, its first part proposes a set of guidelines that would enable Member States to ensure compliance with EU law. The second part inquires whether the Court’s limits placed on national vehicle registration taxes allow for a truly internal market for (used) vehicles to emerge. It argues that the Court’s case law, despite it containing clear guidelines for national tax authorities, still leaves unaddressed important and fundamental risks of tax competition and of double taxation. To help mitigating those risks in the future, the final sections of this contribution will propose solutions to prevent Member States from relying on taxation benchmarks that in practice make double taxation inevitable and to ensure an overall better distribution of taxation powers between them.