Though China enacted some pollution-controlling measures (we may have mentioned some of the issues around that) in the months prior to the Olympics (and I haven’t actually heard much about any pollution problems since the games started), the country is also making policy changes that will hopefully curb pollution in the long run. In a not-so-subtle nudge for Chinese consumers, the Finance Ministry is raising taxes on large cars, while simultaneously lowering taxes on small ones. From the Associated Press, as reported in The Detroit News:

The tax on passenger vehicles with engines bigger than 4 liters will be doubled to 40 percent from 20 percent, effective Sept. 1, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday in a statement on its Web site. Those buying vehicles with engines sized from 2 liters up to 4 liters will have to pay a 25 percent tax, up from the current 15 percent, it said.

Cars with engines up to one liter in size will have their tax dropped from three percent to one percent. This national policy comes after some large Chinese cities have imposed emissions standards stricter than the United States, and equal to or stricter than European ones.

Treehugger.com notes that even with these changes, fuel in China is still incredibly cheap by Asian standards as the government heavily subsidizes gasoline prices. Still more expensive than in the United States, however. And, before we jump on our high horses and ride to the smug castle in the sky, there’s still this.

Once again, we’ll suggest you takepart and check out AutoblogGreen, a car site where they “obsessively cover the green scene.”