Former Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev (Reform), himself one of the architects of Estonia's vehicle tax, recently criticized the direction the law has taken. Then, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said Võrklaev was not the one who came up with it.

"You are attributing something to him that is very unfair. The only person I think who could admit ownership of this motor vehicle tax is Jevgeni Ossinovski. I don't know a single other rational person who would want to claim this chimera as their own," Michal said.

Tallinn Mayor and SDE chair Jevgeni Ossinovski said Michal's claim was simply an attempt to shift responsibility or blame for unpopular decisions elsewhere.

"It's ridiculous enough that I won't even seriously comment on it. The more serious issue is that parties bearing government responsibility (Reform and Eesti 200 – ed.) are currently facing a choice: to work for the good of the country or to focus on saving their own parties. And it seems that since their ratings have collapsed through the floor, they've been struck by panic and believe they must, at any cost, somehow drag their respective parties upward," Ossinovski said.

"They're trying to find someone to pin the blame on. This in a situation where, of course, the tax was developed by Finance Minister Võrklaev. It was supported by Climate Minister Kristen Michal, submitted to the Riigikogu by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas' government and later adopted by the government led by Kristen Michal. For my part, I was not a member of the government when it was developed, nor was I a member of the Riigikogu when it was adopted," he added.

At the same time, Ossinovski said that unlike the Reform Party, he does not shy away from responsibility, since in the end the decision to introduce the car tax was made by three coalition parties, including the Social Democrats.

"The decision was taken due to the difficult budget situation and rising defense expenditures. Yes, the Social Democrats also supported it, but I can say that we had two priorities in shaping the design of the tax. First, that owners of luxury cars should bear a higher tax burden while smaller, more economical cars should carry a lighter one. Second, where we could not reach agreement with the Reform Party, was that vulnerable groups should either be exempted from the car tax or offered a discount. On that point, Mr. Võrklaev and I did not reach an agreement," Ossinovski said. The currently planned exemption for families with children was proposed much later.

Ossinovski: Social Democrats would prefer a lower value added tax instead

Eesti 200 leader Kristina Kallas told ERR on Wednesday that during budget negotiations her party will propose abolishing the car tax. A day earlier, Michal had already said the car tax had not been a successful measure.

Asked whether the Social Democrats would now support scrapping the car tax if they were still in government, Ossinovski replied that instead a reduction of the value-added tax should be considered.

"As of today, from the Social Democrats' perspective, the biggest problem is that the planned increase in value-added tax is being upheld. The current coalition partners have no intention of reconsidering it, despite the fact that in Estonia the VAT hike is adding extra fuel to price increases, which in turn is damaging our economy's competitiveness," he said.

"And if we talk about people's struggles to make ends meet, the greatest impact comes from VAT, which hits the most vulnerable groups hardest. So if I had to make proposals, and if there is room to lower taxes, the first thing I would look at is VAT. It directly affects the livelihoods of lower-income households much more significantly than the car tax does," Ossinovski said.

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