There are political announcements which catch the eye, which flatter the collective imagination, and which give the impression of a protective State, keen to respond to the legitimate desire for social and geographical mobility.. The adoption of article 55 of the 2026 finance billpresented as “the possibility for each Tunisian family to import or buy a car with a tax advantage”, clearly belongs to this category. On paper, the device looks like a popular gift. In reality, it mostly resembles a mirage.
Tunisia today has around 3.47 million families, according to the latest census in 2024. Three and a half million households potentially affected. Compare with an automobile market which, in 2022, only sold 55,281 new cars. The adopted text also limits vehicles imported within this framework to 10% of annual imports, i.e. a ceiling of approximately 5,500 cars per year. A paltry figure compared to the scale of potential demand.
Let’s do a simple exercise: if a million families — or less than a third of the total — filed an application, the theoretical waiting time would exceed 180 years old. One hundred and eighty years so that everyone benefits from the measure. A century and a half of waiting: this is the true scope of this device presented as universal. The promise of a car for every family then looks a lot like a promise for a handful.
An illusion?
The legislator can properly regulate the advantage: only one vehicle per family, possible transfer to the surviving spouse, car less than eight years old, limited engine capacity, non-resale before five years, income ceiling to avoid the windfall effect. These safeguards do not change the root of the problem: the reservoir of supply is microscopic compared to the ocean of potential demand.
The political discourse suggests that a new right has just been granted to Tunisians. But a right whose exercise remains reserved for a lucky – or privileged – minority loses all substance. Because behind the social rhetoric, the real mechanism is implacable: the number of beneficiaries is structurally limited, the deadlines immeasurable, and the promise, ultimately, inaccessible for the overwhelming majority of families.
If the State really wants to democratize access to the car, it will have to make a clear choice: massively increase importsreview the 10% threshold, or — better — work on a global mobility strategy, including public transport, fair taxation and controlled access to the automobile market. Everything else is more of a symbol than a solution.
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