Martin:

The taxing of cars proportionally to CO2 emissions is wonderful if it would mean taxation proportional to CO2 emissions, but that is of course not what he really means. Fuel taxes are proportional to CO2 emission. Car taxes are never. A gas guzzler driven 25 km a week emits much much less CO2 than a more reasonable car driven 500 km a week. Unfortunately this rubbish is the only thing which Tiefensee really can do.

It works on a statistical level, and it's not as if the measure is regressive (when applied to new cars only). So, big deal if some individuals are over-taxed because of it. If they can buy a Cayenne... Cars are under-taxed in Germany anyway. This in turn leads to pre-tax prices being highest in all of the EU (IIRC).

But the real issue are not gas taxes. The real issue is the lack of taxes on oil consumption outside the traffic sector. Just recently I read, that a representative of the German real estate business said, oil prices are not yet high enough that it would be a good investment to reinsulate older houses. But here clearly the 'ecological movement' has a strong bias against cars. Other waste is doesn't matter.

Nonsense. Most gasoline is used for driving cars and trucks, approximately two-thirds of the total. The gasoline used in homes is negligible in Germany, as most houses have natural gas or electric heating.