Petition against car tax in Estonia signed electronically by almost 30,000 people

Traffic jam near Tallinn Airport. Photo: Sander Ilvest

The petition against the introduction of a car tax in Estonia has been signed digitally by more than 18,500 people on the rahvaalgatus.ee website and by more than 11,100 on the website petitsioon.ee.

In August, the petition can be signed digitally only on rahvaalgatus.ee.

Andres Rand, member of the board of the Estonian Car Owners Association (EAOL), said they decided to continue collecting signatures only on the rahvagatus.ee website because it also offers the option of signing with a Smart-ID.

«Today we can see that the possibility to sign with Smart ID has led to a dramatic increase in the number of signatures in a short period of time,» Rand said. «We also see that the initiative against the introduction of the car tax has the potential to set a record for petitions in Estonia, which currently stands at 35,805 digital signatures on a petition in support of marriage equality.»

According to Rand, it is noteworthy that the result was achieved without any advertising.

«Throughout its existence, EAOL has spent a total of 20 euros on social media advertising. Thus, the word has spread primarily from person to person, that is, by means of social media sharing,» said Rand. He added that the popular support shows both the importance of the topic and the fact that the introduction of a car tax in Estonia is not legitimate.

«This is a point of reflection for those currently governing us, whose actions the voter will surely remember,» he said.

The collection of signatures will end on Aug. 31 at 11:59 p.m. The signatures will then be forwarded to the board of the Riigikogu and the government.