Negotiations with the Norwegian government have resulted in a tax plan that includes significant tax reductions for motorcycles. And for snowmobiles; this is Norway after all.

A coalition of organizations, with the Norwegian Motorcycle Importers’ Association at the forefront, has worked for the proposal for tax reductions on motorcycles and snowmobiles. The tax reduction saves the consumer up to €8.5 million in taxes in 2021. Norway’s minority conservative government had to work hard to reach a budget agreement for 2021 with the opposition parties, but seen from the motorcycle seat, the outcome is very positive.

Motorcycles are heavily taxed in Norway, as are all other vehicles running on fossil fuel. The taxes are based on CO2-emissions and engine capacity (read: cubic centimetres, cc). Until now, the starting point for the capacity-tax has been 225 cc. For all practical purposes, this has given A1/125ccm bikes a tax break, whereas all other bikes, including small-displacement A2 bikes, have had to pay taxes based on cylinder volume. This is now due to be changed. From 1 January 2021, the cc-threshold will be lifted to 500 cc, which effectively means that a lot of attractive small-displacement bikes in the 350/400/500 cc segment will get a substantial price reduction.

NMCU, Norway’s motorcyclists’ organization and member of FEMA, is part of the coalition that worked on the tax reduction. Odd Terje Dovik, NMCU’s president says: “NMCU will continue to argue that the cc-element of the tax equation is irrelevant from an emissions perspective and should be replaced with a NOx tax. Until that happens, we are nevertheless very pleased to see a reduction of the cc-tax, especially as this favours a lot of the small, nimble entry-level A2-bikes. Bigger bikes also benefit from the revised tax scheme. A BMWR1250GS will see a 10% reduction of the tax bill from ca €7,000 to approximately €6,300. A Yamaha MT-07 will get approximately 30% in tax reduction.”

Sources: www.reitwagen.no & NMCU

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Top photograph by Are Kjersem