Poll: 72 percent of Estonian residents against proposed car tax
Around a fifth of Estonian residents support the implementation of a proposed car tax, while more than 70 percent are against it, according to the results of a recent survey commissioned by the Institute for Societal Studies (MTÜ Ühiskonnauuringute Instituut) and conducted by Norstat.
Asked, "How do you feel about the introduction of a car tax in Estonia?" 21 percent of survey respondents said that they "support" or "rather support" it; 72 percent, meanwhile, said that they "rather don't support" or "don't support" it. The remaining respondents indicated that they "don't know."
According to the poll, support for the car tax among ethnic Estonians stood at a combined 23 percent — with 7 percent indicating they "support" and 16 percent "rather support" its implementation — while a combined 70 percent are against it — with 18 percent indicating they "rather don't support" and 52 percent "don't support" it. Another 7 percent of ethnic Estonian respondents indicated that they "don't know."
Among respondents of other ethnicities, just 11 percent of those surveyed support the proposed car tax — including 5 percent stating they "support" and 6 percent they "rather support" it — while a total of 80 percent are against its implementation — including 11 percent responding they "rather don't support" and 69 percent "don't support" it. Another 9 percent of respondents of other ethnicities indicated that they "don't know."
80 percent of survey respondents indicated that they or someone in their household owns a car. Of those with a car in their household, 18 percent were in support of the implementation of a car tax; 77 percent were against it.
Of those without a car in their household, 35 percent were in favor of the introduction of a car tax, while 50 percent were not in support of it.
Support for the proposed tax varied between various political parties' voters as well. Among voters of the current three coalition parties, 52 percent of Reform Party voters supported the implementation of a car tax while 37 percent did not support it; 33 percent of Eesti 200 voters supported it while 57 percent did not, and 44 percent of Social Democratic Party (SDE) voters were in favor of implementing the tax while 50 percent were not.
Opposition party voters, meanwhile, were very clearly against the planned new car tax, including 96 percent of Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) voters, 84 percent of Center Party voters and 83 percent of Isamaa voters.
Those against the new tax clearly outweighed those in favor of it across all sociodemographic groups, including by age, education level and income level. Thus Reform voters constitute the only group of respondents in which proponents of the car tax outnumber those against it.
Norstat conducted its survey online from Friday, July 21 through Saturday, July 22; respondents included 1,004 Estonian citizens aged 18 and over.
Click here for more information regarding the proposed car tax.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla