A French research organization specializing in transport policy, the Institut Mobilités en Transition (IMT), has proposed bringing back a version of France's old "vignette" car tax, this time as a dematerialized annual fee of between €30 and €910 per vehicle. The proposal appears in an 80-page report, titled "68 milliards en sursis" ("68 billion in suspense"), that IMT published in September 2026. It has not been adopted by the French government and is not a bill before Parliament; IMT says it hopes the idea will feature in political debate ahead of France's 2027 presidential election.
Why fuel-tax revenue is at risk
According to the IMT report, road-related taxes generated about €67.5 billion for the French state in 2025. Fuel excise duty (TICPE) alone accounted for €27.7 billion of that, with value-added tax on fuel purchases adding roughly €8.9 billion more, the institute's figures show. As more drivers switch to electric vehicles and overall fuel consumption declines, IMT projects this revenue stream could shrink by around €22 billion by 2035 unless it is replaced by another source.
What the proposed fee would look like
IMT's proposal is a modernized, digital version of the vignette that French motorists paid every year from 1956 until the tax was scrapped for private cars in 2001, according to Orange Actu. Instead of a flat sticker price, the new fee — described in the report as a "redevance" — would be calculated from several factors at once: a vehicle's engine type, weight and energy consumption; its country of manufacture and repairability; the owner's household income; where the household lives; and how many vehicles it owns.
Under that formula, IMT's modeling sets the lowest annual charge at about €30, for a low-income, rural household with a small, European-built electric car. The highest charge, about €910, would apply to a wealthy, urban household that owns several older or heavier vehicles.
IMT's proposed annual fee by household profile| Household profile | Estimated annual fee |
|---|
| Low-income household, rural area, light EU-made EV | €30 |
|---|
| Average household, 2030 (IMT projection) | €140 |
|---|
| Average household, 2035 (IMT projection) | €260 |
|---|
| Wealthy urban household, several older/heavy vehicles | €910 |
|---|
IMT estimates the fee could raise about €9 billion in 2030, rising to roughly €17 billion by 2035 — enough to offset part, but not all, of the fuel-tax decline it projects, according to reporting on the study by Automobile Propre.
Status and what happens next
The report explicitly argues against taxing electric vehicles by distance driven, saying that would discourage EV adoption, and proposes the flat-rate-but-modulated annual ownership fee instead. For comparison, French vehicles currently generate an average of about €940 per year in combined road-related taxes, according to Journal de l'Automobile's reporting on the study.
IMT was founded by Iddri, a Paris-based sustainable-development research institute, and focuses on transport decarbonization. Its September 2026 report follows an earlier assessment of road taxation by France's Conseil des prélèvements obligatoires, a body that advises on tax policy, Journal de l'Automobile reported. As of early October 2026, the fee remains only a think-tank proposal: no bill has been introduced in the French Parliament, and the government has not endorsed it.
- Proposed fee: €30 to €910 per year, depending on income, vehicle and location
- Published in September 2026 by the Institut Mobilités en Transition (IMT)
- Proposed start: 2030; projected revenue of about €9 billion in 2030, rising to €17 billion by 2035
- Rationale: electric-vehicle adoption is projected to cut fuel-tax revenue by about €22 billion by 2035
- Current status: a think-tank proposal only, with no government bill yet
Questions
- Has France already brought back the car tax sticker?
- No. As of early October 2026, it is only a proposal from the think tank IMT; no law or decree has reinstated it, and the French government has not endorsed the idea.
- How much would the new fee cost?
- IMT's modeling proposes an annual fee ranging from about €30, for a low-income rural household with a small European-built electric car, to about €910 for a wealthy urban household with several older or heavier vehicles.
- Why is this being proposed now?
- IMT says France's road-tax system, which raised about €67.5 billion in 2025, is at risk of losing roughly €22 billion by 2035 as electric vehicles reduce fuel consumption and related tax revenue.
- Would electric vehicle owners have to pay it?
- Yes — the proposed fee applies to all motorized vehicles, though IMT explicitly rejected a separate distance-based tax on electric vehicles, arguing it would discourage EV adoption.
- When could the fee take effect?
- IMT proposes starting the fee in 2030, with average amounts rising from about €140 per vehicle that year to about €260 by 2035, but this depends on political decisions not yet made.
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