Exciting struggle for retention of old-timer MRB exemption still holds good prospects

The intensive lobby of Team Vrijstellingoldtimer in the Upper House has led to a surprising development. The Pvda fraction in the Upper House has provided a new perspective for the old-timer owner in the pursuit of maintaining the exemption. The ruling party shows at least doubts about the 40 year compromise. For this reason, the Pvda delegates have submitted a request to the Ministry to postpone the scheme by one year. That measure would then be accompanied by the accelerated introduction of an 30 year age limit for old-timers. In the meantime, more and more people involved want to convince the Senate of taking the right measure. This Monday a new petition will be handed over to the Senate.

Well substantiated
The request that the PvdA group submitted to the Ministry is well substantiated. The proposal stands out because of its reasonableness and looks like this:

"The members of the PvdA Group would like to hear from the government a response to the proposal to postpone the motor vehicle tax for vintage cars by one year, in order to better investigate the feasibility of the measure in view of the to cover the environmental and financial objectives and the loss of income set by the old-time measure 'Van Vliet', which took effect on 01-01-2012 and whose transitional arrangement would expire on 01-01-2021, directly per 01-01-2014. In concrete terms, this would mean that for 01-01-2014 the limit for exemption from the MRB would go to 30 year (instead of 40 year as currently provided for in the 2014 Tax Plan).

Compared to the 'Van Vliet' measure, this means for the government that four years of construction until the age of 30 becomes MRB again, whereas they would not be under the 'Van Vliet' transitional arrangement. The members of the PvdA group are happy to receive a substantive and numerical response to this. "

No confidence in quality 40 year compromise
The group wants to reserve extra time to properly calculate the effects of the 40-year compromise in relation to the usefulness and necessity. This explicitly indicates that there is no confidence within the group in the quality of that measure. In addition, an appeal is made to international standards: these are set at 30 years for old-timers. Compared to the agreements made in the spring between the oldtimer alliance and the Ministry of Finance, it is a considerably better alternative, which would give the industry a lot of air. And with a one-year delay, those involved in politics can take their re-exam for the oldtimer paragraph. No need to do homework again. Team Vrijstellingoldtimer already did this in an excellent way in the past year. And that homework shows that the 40-year compromise is damaging, unnecessary and disproportionate. The Ministry of Finance is today publishing a response to the proposal. However, it is expected that all interested parties should above all place their hope in the long-standing decisiveness of the Senate.

Another petition from the old-timer movement
This Monday, a petition will be handed over to the Senate - in the run-up to the plenary debate on the oldtimer paragraph. Now that a larger and growing group of classic car owners finds the so undesirable blue envelope in their letterbox, the classic car world is once again sending a signal to take the most sensible decision for everyone with regard to the MRB exemption. And that, given the current circumstances, is the ratification of the proposal that - fully initiated by Team Vrijstellingoldtimer - submitted the Senate party of the PvdA to the Ministry of Finance. When the Senate finally takes its responsibility on December 17, it can do nothing but approve this excellent alternative to the Van Vliet Amendment.