Cheapest canton

Where a powerful motorcycle is cheapest

For the same motorcycle, the cheapest and dearest canton are close to five times apart – wider than for any kind of car.

Worked out with 1000 cm³, 150 kW, 200 kg kerb, 400 kg gross, petrol

Cantonal vehicle tax

What this vehicle costs its keeper each year, under the canton’s own tariff.

Cheapest CHF per year

  1. 1 TG 60
  2. 2 VS 75
  3. 3 BE 96
  4. 4 BS 106
  5. 5 SO 125
  6. 6 SH 132
  7. 7 ZH 132

16 cantons in between

Dearest

  1. 24 LU 321
  2. 25 TI 322
  3. 26 GR 340

An estimate. Only the canton’s own assessment is binding.

Why motorcycles spread so far

About half the cantons tax motorcycles on displacement; the rest use power or weight – and a powerful machine is expensive exactly where power counts and cheap where only displacement does. Because a litre bike pushes both to an extreme, the spread is wider than for cars, where eco discounts and CO₂ surcharges partly flatten the differences again. Motorcycles get no such corrective: the energy label does not reach them anywhere.

Work it out with your own figures →