At first glance, France seems more lenient than Germany or the United Kingdom. None annual tax on vehicle ownership reminds us, every year, of the cost of the automobile. For Benoît Perrin, director of the Contribuables Associés association, this impression is however misleading. “The charge did not disappear, it was cut”he summarizes.
Gray cardpenalty, fuel, insurance, tollsparking, fines… The deductions are spread out throughout the year and the life of the vehicle, without ever appearing in the form of a global invoice. It is this fragmentation which, according to him, makes the tax pressure difficult to perceive. “A tax that cannot be seen is a tax that cannot be contested. »
An addition which rises to 2,900 euros per household
The association adds up all public revenue linked to vehicles before reporting it to the 31 million French households. It thus obtains an order of magnitude of 2,900 euros per household, a calculation which also includes levies paid by companiesconsidered to be reflected in the prices paid by consumers.
Several positions would go largely under the radar. This is the case of the tax on car insurance, which reaches 33% on the compulsory civil liability guarantee, but also of energy savings certificates (EEC), integrated into the price of fuel and valued at between 15 and 17 cents per liter in 2026, according to professionals in the sector. Even the points recovery courses would represent, according to the association, 60 to 90 million euros per year.
For Benoît Perrin, French singularity is not due to a higher tax than its neighbors, but to their accumulation. Based on ACEA data, he estimates that the charge reaches 2,036 euros per vehicle, compared to around 1,900 euros in the main European markets.
Fuel accounts for almost half of the bill
The main item remains fuel. According to Contribuables Associés, it alone would represent 47 billion euros in 2025, or approximately half of automobile-related levies. For the association, the price at the pump adds three layers: the excise, the VAT – calculated including on this excise – and the energy saving certificates. “The State taxes its own tax”denounces Benoît Perrin. With diesel having exceeded two euros per liter in the spring, the annual bill for a rural household with two vehicles could exceed 5,000 euros in 2026, according to its estimates.
The association proposes three measures to make this taxation more understandable. The first would consist of displaying on each fuel ticket details of taxes collected by the State. The second should see the creation of an annual tax statement automobile sent to each household, based on the model of the tax notice. Finally, the association pleads for revenue from fines and road taxes to be entirely allocated to infrastructure. Benoît Perrin recalls that, according to the Court of Auditors, 15% of revenue from fines is deducted even before funding the special allocation account, in particular for the benefit of reducing State debt. “When the sanction finances the debt rather than security, it is no longer prevention, it is performance”he judges.
Proposals which are in line with the line defended by Contribuables Associés, an association favorable to a reduction in the tax burdenbut which has the merit of asking a question rarely addressed: how much does the automobile really cost the French once all the taxes are added up?
