That’s valid and agree that it is a relatively fair way of balancing driving habits with costs.
It doesn’t make any difference to low mileage drivers paying proportionately more VED though
If I choose to enjoy my MX-5 I’m expecting to pay for fuel. (At extortionate, exorbitant E5 prices…don’t get me started! )
That goes without saying.
But why should I or those in similar situations have to pay exactly the same road tax as someone driving significantly more miles? Why is the rate not pro rata?
How about a ‘per driver’ charge instead of ‘per car.’ Pay tax on the highest polluting of your cars, anything else you drive is free. Or a small surcharge for each additional car?
its not just a bit longer, its a whole lot longer. If you want to get anywhere of any distance in France you need to use the Motorways. Worth every penny,
Apparently, a consortium of banks own the M6Toll and it all reverts to the state in a few decades time - when in theory it could simply merge into the national motorway system.
I am sure even if I drove Madge only 415 miles a year I would not be worried about the £415 tax I pay, £1 a mile for a lot of smiles, I’d gladly give up hot water and a lot of other elektricary gadgets for that. Sadly like death and taxes nothing being fair is one of the certainities of life.
Yep, put it in those terms and it appears good value but extrapolate your fee and the sum would be £3000 for someone doing 3000miles a year. Not quite as good value.
Also, if you take that same £415 figure for VED but use the proportional equation using an annual average of 10K miles your 415 miles would cost you £1.72
Wouldn’t that make you smile even more broadly?
True, but technically that happens already.
The VED is for 12 (or 6months if sorned) so if you take a car abroad you’ve already payed your tax. There’s no discount for foreign mileage as far as I’m aware?
VED is not based on mileage. VED is not hypothecated and is not linked to car usage. Mileage checks were proposed to tax havy users of the roads.
Obviously the solution lies in GPS tracking of your movements. Which itself is interesting, if we are also determining how the LTF is funded, when we find out if most of the road damage is done through drivers popping out in the car to get some milk from Tescos.
VED has become a tool to nudge driver choices; ie more efficient, cleaner cars. One proposal that is seriously being considered is to introduce a weight based VED. Right now, there is no incentive for manufacturers to drive down the weights of EVs; range improvements, which is the competitive advantage, are easily met through bigger batteries. The latest crop of EVs have ranges comparable to petrol cars, but with a lot more power. Weight based VED iincentivizes drivers to look for lighter, smaller, models. Come 2028 or so, in the showrooms, there won’t really be a choice of ICE or EV, except for that odd example tucked at the back that no one wants.
Fuel duty and VED receipts are in decline, and a replacement for the shortfall is needed. That though might not necessarily come from motoring.
I have often thought that the MOT could be used as a way of taxing use with cars banded by their total impact on the environment. By that I mean I would not only tax exhaust emissions but also the effect on the environment of a vehicles manufacture, and its weight.
Hmm, might run into WTO issues. Taxing a car based on how far its come might be seen as a non-tax trade barrier. It will be like taxing Japanese cars just because they are made in Japan, but taxing them less if they are made in, say, Albania. And would it extend to analysis of the supply chain.? Would the Fiat Spider be taxed more or less than the ND MX5. Its engine, leather and outer panels came from Italy, but shipped to Japan. A Rolls Royce might be less to tax than a BMW 7-Series, because its screwed together in Crewe. Some of the roof parts on the MX5 come from Germany, shipped to Japan, then shipped back to Europe.
It would certainly keep the LCA industry in business, and add to the cost of cars in the UK, given the extra data that will need to be furnished to the regulatory authorities. And how about used cars? A grey import Range Rover from Japan would cost more to tax than the UK market Range Rover.
And the net result of a car market that excludes imports is the Lada. The sort of car you get where there is no or little competition.
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