Car bashing endangers jobs”

Car bashing endangers jobs”

In 2021, the Industrial Science Institute (IWI) examined the effect of the automotive industry on the labor market and economic performance in Austria in a study. According to study author Herwig Schneider, “every job in this industry indirectly secures two additional jobs.” In addition to the 81,700 directly employed, there are another 193,000 jobs, according to the IWI study. Overall, the costs for the use of the vehicles, the VAT and standard consumption tax on purchase as well as the petroleum and engine-related insurance tax and the motorway toll for the tax authorities add up to tens of billions. The previous high was in 2019 at 14.9 billion euros. For 2021, sales tax and NoVA had declined due to the lack of availability of vehicles, but according to calculations by the ÖAMTC, an amount of 13.78 billion euros was achieved.

A current survey by the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers puts Austria at the top of the EU in comparison: an average of 2,678 euros is due per vehicle per year in this country, which is second behind Belgium with 3,187 euros. Germany, on the other hand, collects 1,963 euros per vehicle, while Spain, at the bottom, is content with a modest 1,068 euros. “The income from driving is almost as high as the total expenditure on education or a third of pensions,” says Burkhard Ernst, chairman of the “Mein Auto” association. Ernst calculates: “Anyone who wants to get rid of the cars must also be aware that this would no longer cover the financing of very important public areas or that the four million Austrian households would each have to pay over 3,500 euros per year in taxes and contributions in another way.”