Continuation of the first reading of the draft law repealing the Motor Vehicle Tax Act (488 SE)
Session: 15th Riigikogu, 4th session, plenary sitting
Date: 2024-11-06 16:01
Total Speeches: 103
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 59m
AI Summaries: 103/103 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Politicians Speaking Time
Politicians
Analysis
Summary
The session focused on the first reading of bill 488, which aims to declare the motor vehicle tax act invalid, initiated by the Isamaa faction. The bill’s purpose is to terminate or declare invalid the motor vehicle tax (automotive tax), a move challenged by the coalition and the bill’s proposer regarding the current tax system’s economic and regional impact. They aimed to demonstrate that the state budget and environmental goals could be achieved without tax changes and through alternative solutions. However, questions were raised regarding the whole picture or context: how will such a change affect inflation, economic growth, and the ability of people and families to cope next year, and what will be the regional impact on the residents of rural areas, schools, and access to public services.
Decisions Made 1
Bill 488 is rejected on the first reading. The vote result: 48 in favor, 28 against, 0 abstentions. The legal process for the law is terminated.
Most Active Speaker
The most active participant was Mart Võrklaev (pid 3qzWXtEX7Y4), who, as a representative of the committee, had a significant presence both in the bill’s proceedings and in the parliamentary debate. He is a representative of the right-wing political direction (right-wing), and his role encompassed being a member of the finance committee and chairing the discussion of the bill.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi announced that the first reading of the draft law to declare the Motor Vehicle Tax Act unconstitutional would be continued at yesterday's session, and he invited Urmas Reinsalu to answer the questions, noting that Andres Metsoja had waited the entire night.
Andres Metsoja
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Andres Metsoja thanks the chair and the presenter of the meeting, notes that the night has been busy and there is something to think about, and, with a view to restarting, poses a question, asking Urmas to calm down and gather himself.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi asks for silence in the hall and hands the microphone to Andres Metsoja so that he may ask his question.
Andres Metsoja
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
The main message of the presentation is that Isamaa wants to abolish the motor vehicle tax, but in the context of tax increases one must assess the bigger picture and consider what contribution this tax makes to the development of Estonia's economic environment.
Urmas Reinsalu
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Urmas Reinsalu urged Parliament at its first reading not to reject the law abolishing the motor vehicle tax, and stressed that Isamaa's alternative budget shows how the state's expenditure policy and revenue policy can be shaped without new taxes, because the abolition of the car tax would reduce inflation next year, increase economic growth and people’s purchasing power, and would be a temporary tax.
Tõnis Lukas
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Tõnis Lukas says that the cumulative effect of regional policy together with the car tax makes life harder for families, because buying a car and getting around become more expensive, and the locations of schools and government offices force people to travel long distances.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi asks Tõnis Lukas to speak.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chairman Toomas Kivimägi thanks the listeners.
Tõnis Lukas
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Tõnis Lukas raises the question of what the regional political outlook could be and how to put things in order.
Urmas Reinsalu
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Urmas Reinsalu states that the current government policy is ideological and worsens the quality of life, especially in rural areas, by increasing indirect taxes (24% VAT on catering and 13% VAT on accommodation), and calls for opposition to this policy agenda, because it is not reasonable, does not provide assurance, and reduces the growth potential of the economy.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
There are no more questions; many thanks and a request: the lead committee's discussion and positions will be presented at the Riigikogu's speaking desk by Mart Võrklaev, a member of the Finance Committee.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
The Finance Committee briefly discussed the motor vehicle tax bill and made procedural decisions: it appointed Mart Võrklaev as the lead committee's representative, planned to place the bill on the agenda for the 22 October plenary session and to defer it, but on 21 October it was decided to remove the discussion from that agenda item, because the rapporteur was on a foreign assignment, and to move it to the 5 November agenda.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman thanks the audience and invites questions, asking that Alexander Chaplygin step forward.
Aleksandr Tšaplõgin
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
They criticize the logic of the car tax and give an example: the annual tax for a five-year-old Mercedes Sprinter is 900 euros, while the annual tax for a brand-new Lamborghini bought for a quarter of a million is only 848 euros, and they argue that there is no logic—the rich are not offended, but the poor are robbed.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev said that the commission did not discuss this issue in that sense, and of course it can be discussed outside the chamber.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chair, Toomas Kivimägi, invites Rene Kokk onto the stage and asks him to come.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev said that an important question should have been discussed in the committee in order to obtain answers; since it has not been discussed there, he cannot answer here and the answer must be found outside the chamber.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The speech is a plea to invite Lauri Laatsi onto the stage.
Lauri Laats
Profiling Eesti Keskerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Lauri Laats notes that the car tax initiative is increasingly aimed at filling the state treasury rather than solely at an environmental objective, and that low-income families may have to pay up to a quarter of the cost of buying a car, and he asks whether this was really the environmental objective and whether these questions have been discussed.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev said that in the committee there had not been a thorough debate about the draft bill, something he would have expected, and therefore he cannot answer at the moment because the discussion has not taken place.
Urmas Reinsalu
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Urmas Reinsalu refers to the phenomenon seen in Pomperipossa's land and to a PricewaterhouseCoopers analyst's observation that taxes and registration fees may be higher than the price of a car, and asks Võrklaev whether the same effect could exist here.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Urmas Reinsalu is invited to speak.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
I am disappointed that the Isamaa party did not hold practically any debate in the committee on the subject of this bill, and it seems that there is actually no real desire to change anything.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
During the speech, Rain Epler is invited to come up and speak.
Rain Epler
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Rain Epler asked for an explanation of the main ideas behind car taxation and its impact on Estonia's future, referring to earlier discussions and to the fact that the respondent had once been the face of an advertising campaign and discussed the 1992 Audi purchase and sale.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev said that he is ready to discuss these topics publicly and in the corridor with one another, but for now he is sticking to the format that they are not discussed in the committee, and therefore the debate in the chamber is poorer.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
This is an invitation for Rene Kokk to perform.
AI Summary
Rene Kokk noted that Estonian car owners and families are waiting for explanations and asked the question: what happens if a car is stolen immediately after purchase, what is the stance of the state and the police, and what do the authorities plan to do.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Thank you for recognizing me as an expert; this is an important question for which we must find an answer together, although those topics were not discussed in the commission, and here one cannot even comment, but a solution is being sought.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Helle-Moonika Helme is invited onto the stage.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Helme-Moonika Helme emphasizes that they want the car tax law declared invalid, points to the lack of debate in the committee, and, in light of security considerations, asks why vehicles requisitioned in wartime are not exempt from taxation.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi expressed thanks.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Due to taxes, the state may no longer be able to accept cars that people could hand over to the state for free.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Võrklaev explains that the car tax act was enacted by the Riigikogu, not by him, and emphasizes that the issue could have been raised in the committee, and that the discussions are present in earlier minutes.
Mart Maastik
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
This speech criticizes the speaker, claiming that he repeatedly responds to the deputies’ questions, saying that nothing was discussed in the committee and accusing the opposition, and emphasizing that the opposition should only raise those questions that actually require answers, finally asking whether the speaker himself does not notice that the committee made the decision without discussing important aspects.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invited Mart Maastikut onto the stage.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
They said that there has always been substantive discussion about the bills referred to or initiated for their committee, and therefore there is no reason for them to worry, and every initiator must therefore worry, although the Isamaa committee did not feel too much concern about it.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
This was just a brief invitation for Aivar Kokk to perform.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk confirmed that the topic has been discussed in the committee, and the claim that it would not have been discussed is false, and he criticized the car tax and land tax bills and highlighted the funding controversies surrounding public transport.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
They thanked the listeners.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
We understand that the situation will not improve, and therefore the motor vehicle tax should be canceled.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Võrklaev asserts that he has not lied, and notes that the bill under discussion was presented in the committee by Aivar, in his capacity as a representative of Isamaa, and the protocol states only that Aivar acknowledged that the motor vehicle tax is not regionally sensible.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, turns to Kert Kingo and asks her.
Kert Kingo
AI Summary
Kert Kingo criticized the car tax law, asking Rene Koka how to proceed in cases where a car is stolen or disappears (for example, through ice or at the bottom of a lake), emphasizing that these real-life situations must be regulated precisely by law and asking whether these cases are already provided for or if solutions are still being sought, which suggests that the law is junk.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev said that the current draft contains very few points, and some questions have not been discussed in the committee, but there are answers and solutions to those questions, and these topics have also been addressed within the motor vehicle tax draft.
Rain Epler
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Rain Epler asked whether Isamaa was seriously thinking that this tax should be abolished, and asked to describe who in the committee made the proposal to reject it and what arguments related to it existed, whether it was a passionate opposition or simply a faster procedure because of the opposition's draft, and how this proposal arose in the committee and what was put forward there as an argument.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invited Rain Epler to speak.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev said that the discussion in the hall was several times more heated than in the committee, and the committee decided to shelve the bill, which resulted in 7 votes in favor and 2 against, and the minutes do not specify who made the proposal.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
During the speech, Lauri Laats is asked to take the floor.
Lauri Laats
Profiling Eesti Keskerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Lauri Laats criticizes the former finance minister for hiding away and asks what low-income car owners should do, those whose car costs 1,000–2,000 euros and for whom the annual tax burden amounts to as much as a quarter of the car's price simply for owning a car.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
I haven't hidden away – I am here today before you, having answered all questions, and I will present the discussion that took place in the committee on Isamaa's draft bill and its substantive quality.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chairman Toomas Kivimägi invites Kalle Grünthal onto the stage.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Grünthal accuses the Reform Party and Estonia 200 of lying about taxes, recalling that they promised not to raise taxes, and calls for voting in favor of the bill to cleanse their reputation.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Võrklaev said that in the committee they discussed only whether the draft bill should be adopted or rejected; the committee's proposal was to reject the draft bill, and seven committee members were in favor of it, and each member of parliament makes up his or her own mind independently in the Riigikogu chamber.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invited Riina Solman to speak.
Riina Solman
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Riina Solman stated that a minister's role does not excuse failing to respond and demanded an overview of the role of her Ministry of Finance and the aims of the car tax draft, asking whether the president was supposed to contact her in response to her statement and what had been explained to her, where this money goes and how the law is drafted, and noted that, if necessary, she could privately ask Aivar Kokk about Isamaa matters.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi thanks the audience.
Riina Solman
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Riina Solman says that she doesn't want to know what Aivar Kokk did on the committee, but rather what they think and do, and that they are here today at the helm before us.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Võrklaev denies the accusation that, as finance minister, he left some questions unanswered, stressing that he answered every question in the chamber and publicly, and will continue to answer in the future.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
He invites Vladimir Arhipov to speak.
Vladimir Arhipov
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Vladimir Arhipov said that although tax support is not provided, he would like to allocate the money to a designated fund that would help keep you and the environment in good shape and cover the funding shortfalls for gravel roads, the construction of four-lane roads, and public transport.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
They emphasize that this is an important issue, but these questions were not discussed within the scope of this bill in the Finance Committee.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The speech contains only a plea to invite Kalle Grünthal to perform.
Kalle Grünthal
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Grünthal accuses Reformierakond and Eesti 200 of breaking promises regarding the car tax, and asks whether members of the Riigikogu will be given free rein to vote according to their conscience or will be forced to lie.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
They state that they have not lied, and Kaja Kallas and the Reform Party have not lied either; the Reform Party MPs vote freely, and they do the same.
Siim Pohlak
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Siim Pohlak asks the committee whether, for a cheap car, the registration fee may be higher than the car’s purchase price, citing a 1992 Audi as an example and emphasizing the need to obtain a concrete answer from the car tax importer’s perspective.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invited Siim Pohlak onto the stage.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev thanked for the titles, emphasized an important issue, and said that the bill's initiators and opposition MPs should have raised these topics in the committee, but did not, and the answer is easily found in the same MTA calculator.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invites Arvo Alleri to speak.
Arvo Aller
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Arvo Aller emphasized that although participating in committee meetings is impossible for him, the debate should nonetheless be held more broadly and discuss why car tax could remain and how it would increase Estonia's wealth and people's livelihoods.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Võrklaev noted that the question in the committee was not discussed, because the EKRE representative Martin Helme was absent or had withdrawn, and he stressed that not every Riigikogu member can belong to every committee, but each faction has its own representative on the committee, and through him questions can be raised.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invited Siim Pohlaku.
Siim Pohlak
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Siim Pohlak criticized that the debate is being pushed behind a veil of committee secrecy and the public cannot hear, and he demanded an honest answer as to whether car tax may be higher than the price of the car, emphasizing the need for an open debate in the Riigikogu.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev stated that the Riigikogu's working procedures are fixed and not his own invention, and an EKRE MP could have asked questions in the committee, but he probably hid at that moment, at least the protocol shows.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi invited Helle-Moonika Helme to speak.
Helle-Moonika Helme
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Helle‑Moonika Helme said that EKRE supports abolishing the motor vehicle tax, criticized lying, and pointed out that the bill to declare the motor vehicle tax invalid also opened up this law and asked to fix its shortcomings.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev affirms that he and Kaja Kallas have not lied, asks for the insult to stop, and emphasizes that in the committee no shortcomings were discussed and that he did not make any proposals there.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi asked Kert Kingole to pose a question to the presenter.
Kert Kingo
AI Summary
Kert Kingo asks critically how the committee could, with a majority of coalition MPs, decide that the bill cannot be supported, even though they have not discussed its substance, and asks for an explanation of the logic behind this.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Mart Võrklaev said that, in the case of the draft bill that would declare the motor vehicle tax invalid, seven MPs thought it sensible to reject it, and in the Riigikogu a vote on it was held.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
This is simply a request for Arvo Aller to come and speak.
Arvo Aller
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Arvo Aller asked in the committee whether the coalition had any reasons and justifications for keeping the car tax in force, which would increase the wealth of the Estonian people, reduce regional inequality, and improve people's ability to cope.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
He emphasizes that within the framework of this draft bill the committee has not discussed questions of car tax or motor vehicle tax, although they have previously been thoroughly discussed both in the committee and in the plenary.
Riina Solman
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
Riina Solman asked how the state can be simultaneously the guardian of the people and lash out at them, referring to the cap on payday loan interest and the registration tax on an old car.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Riina Solman is given the floor.
Mart Võrklaev
Profiling Eesti Reformierakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Let me make one correction: we are not currently handling a government-initiated bill, but rather a bill initiated by the Isamaa Party to declare the Motor Vehicle Tax Act invalid, which the Isamaa representative in the Finance Committee was supposed to present and lead the debate on, and regarding which he did not raise those questions, therefore it was not discussed in the committee.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi thanks, announces that the questions have ended, and opens negotiations, and, on behalf of the Estonian Centre Party faction, Aleksandr Tšaplõgin speaks.
Aleksandr Tšaplõgin
Profiling Fraktsiooni mittekuuluvad Riigikogu liikmedAI Summary
According to Chaplõgin, the car tax has from the outset been a bad idea and unfair and harmful to the economy, because the state's tax burden is already too large and the budget is burdened by the Rail Baltica project, green energy subsidies, and 30,000 civil servants; instead the Centre Party proposes a solidarity bank tax and a tax on the profits of global corporations.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi thanks and submits a request on behalf of the EKRE faction, which is relayed by Siim Pohlak.
Siim Pohlak
Profiling Eesti Konservatiivse Rahvaerakonna fraktsioonAI Summary
Siim Pohlak called for abolishing the car tax, arguing that the tax is inefficient and unfair, increases costs in rural areas and in business, adds bureaucracy, and harms competitiveness, and he proposed that the budget should be found through reducing bureaucracy and fighting corruption.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Toomas Kivimägi thanks and asks that Aivar Kokk represent the Isamaa parliamentary group.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Isamaa's representative Aivar Kokk said that Isamaa would join the coalition only on the condition of abolishing the motor vehicle tax, and he accused Reformierakond and the Social Democrats of an unfair distribution of budget funds and of cutting funding for public transport, pointing to the difficulties of living in rural areas with a car.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The deputy chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, said that he would interrupt for a moment, and five minutes and a little more have passed.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk said that we would take three of these and keep working full-time anyway.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The speech says that there are still two left.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk briefly expressed a positive assessment.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi offers a prayer.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk criticizes that after the 2023 elections, more and more money has been taken from people's pockets through energy prices, the sale of railway wagons, and other measures, and the planned tax reliefs will make the lives of many Estonians even poorer and will harm the Estonian economy.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The vice-chairman Toomas Kivimägi thanked.
Aivar Kokk
Profiling Isamaa fraktsioonAI Summary
Aivar Kokk hopes that Riigikogu members with a clear conscience will vote for the bill proposed by the Isamaa Party, and that the motor vehicle tax will be repealed.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
He announced that negotiations have ended and the steering committee wishes to reject Bill 488 at its first reading and is proceeding to prepare it for a vote.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
Forty-eight votes were cast in favor of the proposal; 28 were opposed and 0 abstentions; Draft 488 has been rejected and removed from consideration, and the first item on the agenda has been completed.