Europe's Diesel Drivers Beware: Heftier Tax Is on the Way

Here’s another reason not to buy a diesel-powered car, and why consumption of the fuel could ebb in one of the world’s biggest demand centers: tax.

For decades governments within the European Union have taxed diesel at a lower rate than rival gasoline, but that advantage is eroding fast as they seek to clean up the environment, and the fallout from Dieselgate rumbles on more than three years after it happened. The shift illustrates a fundamental change in the treatment of a transport fuel that has long been favored across the continent.