The car tax is only when a car is imported, regardless of if it's new or old. There is no VAT if a sell my car to someone but I'm not sure how it works if it's sold by a dealer.
I've allways considered Finland to be scarcely populated
, and compared to many European countries it is. The overall pouplation density in Finland is 17people/square km while Germany has 232, Belgium 341, The Netherlands 392, France 110, Italy 193, UK 246.
Still that does not tell us very much about how people live as most people live in cities anyway (and the US has a population density of only 31 still most people in the US probably lives in more crowded areas that those in Germany and the Netherlands as those countires don't have many uninhabited areas.
In Finland the southernmost district has a population density of 205 while the nothernmost district only have 2.2 persons / square km
Actually where I live outside Vasa, a city on the west coast with a population of 60.000, people commute up to 100km into the city (by car), as they want to live in the rural area where they where born, or where they have built a house and feel at home. Others commute up to 40km for the benefit of cheeper land to build on and to get out of the crowded area around the city.
People use a lot of bikes in the city areas, a 10km commute can be done by bike in the summer half of the year. When I was younger and went to school inside Vasa (8km) I used the bike also in winter, only when the temperature dropped below -20C/-7F I decided it wasn't worth it at took the bus instead
We have separate roads for light traffic (people and bikes) in the urban areas, which makes it easier get through the city by bike. Inside the city it's usually an extended sidewalk while in the suburbs they may be totally separate roads between residental areas.
It's in my opinion a great way to easy traffic congestion by making it easier for people to use the bike and walk.
Simon
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