Car Tax

[HiHo]

Is car tax fair?

Why should people pay a flat rate tax for using their car AND a tax per mile for petrol as well?

Do you think the proposed increases and linking of prices to CO₂ emissions will make any difference to car buying decisions?

[James Lange]

Setting road tax, parking permits and congestion charging is NOT an environmental strategy, it is a revenue raising startegy.  Consider my case:

I have 1996 car of over 3 litres, which I drive less than 3000 miles per year. 

Someone with a car that consumes half the petrol I use and produces half the pollutants per mile, but drives 12,000 miles per year, will use twice as much petrol as I and pollute twice as much.

If you argue that I would pollute less by changing my car, I ask "what is the environmental cost (energy expediture, carbon footprint, global warming, etc) of scrapping my car and building a new one?"

I reckon it is about 25 years worth of the enviromental savings the new car would achieve.  As I am crowding 70, I don't think there are that many driving years left.

[mick]

petrol prices are getting more and more expensive thanks to this government and the idiot before him....

everyday consumables are going through the roof thanks to this government and the idiot before him.

when are we "the public" gonna just bend over, drop our pants and let brown do what he wants to do to every hard working woman and man of great britain, GET UP THE BROWN HOLE.

I THOUGHT BLAIR WAS A *** DIGGER BUT NOW I'M CONVINCED..IT DON'T MATTER HOW YOU VOTE THEY ALL WANT TO DO THE SAME THING, BLEED THE WORKING MAN/WOMAN DRY WITH TAX ON TAX THEN TAX ON THE INTEREST YOU PAY ON THE TAX OF THAT TAX THEN TAX YOU WITH INTEREST ON THAT TAX.

[mick]

PEOPLE SEEN TO BE FORGETTING ONE MAJOR THING IN ALL THESE CHARGES, ITS NOT ABOUT POLLUTION OR THE OZONE LAYER OR EVEN GLOBAL WARMING, THE REAL REASON IS HOW MUCH TAXES CAN THE GOVERNMENT SQUEEZE OUT OF THE PEOPLE.

I FOR ONE DON'T BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING OR THE OZONE EXCUSE THE GOVERNMENT GIVES IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY THE HIGHEST TAXES IN EUROPE..

EVOLUTION IS THE WAY AND PROGRESS OF THE WORLD, THE PLANET HAS BEEN SPINNING PROBABLY FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS, NOTHING WE DO AS A HOLE WILL CHANGE THE WAY OUR PLANET DECAYS OR PROGRESSES. ANYONE BELIEVING IN GOVERNMENT BULLSH*T NEEDS A BRAIN SCAN. WE WILL OF COURSE MOAN AND MAYBE A FEW WILL BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO HOLD A LITTLE DEMONSTRATION OR 2 JUST LIKE THE FUEL STRIKES AND BLOCKADES BUT LIKE ALL TRUE BRITS WE WILL AS EVER SETTLE DOWN AND PAY WHAT EVER GORDON THE MORON BROWN SAYS WE SHOULD PAY. REVOLUTION IS THE ONLY WAY AND IT WILL COME

[Webmaster]

Hi James

You make a very valid point about the environmental costs of scrapping and replacing a car. I haven't been able to find any hard facts but it seems that 100,000 miles is quite often mentioned. I.e. the carbon footprint of making a new car is about the same as driving in 100,000 miles. In your case that is more like 33 years!

Scary huh?

[hardworkingmum]

its all about rich getting richer and the middle finger to your normal hard working familys i'd like to see the polititions live on the basic rate of 5.95 an hour and ditch all there chauffer driven cars i switched on to the house of commons the other day i couldn't believe my eyes it was just a bunch of grown men throwing accusations at each other and name calling it was like watching a bunch of teenages in the play ground no wonder the countrys in the state it is  u'll need to pay a tax for breathing next whens it going to stop

[tom gunn]

I am actually sick to the back teeth listening about ‘carbon footprint’. More often the facts are completely misleading and completely WRONG!!! Its all hype... nothing more ... nothing less!! Take the G wizz... as per Top Gear the so called ‘carbon footprint’ is far greater than normal cars.... I am also sick to the back teeth seeing the politicians making fools of themselves! I feel if it werent for car taxes the cuntry would be broke, financially... global warming... how crass is that? Oh look!!! the king is in the altogether the altogether etc....  wake up England....!

[Marco]

I'm with HiHo.  Those that use the road pay for the road.  I think car tax should be scrapped (I seem to recall reading something from a long time ago that said quite a bit off of it was used to support the NHS anyway) and the "tax" be on petrol/diesel in an equal split.  If one is increased (or heavens above) decreased, then a 1p movement on petrol for example, is mirrored with diesel.

Another option, would be to tax the plethora of lorries etc that come over from outside our shores that just seems to float under the radar.  I'd suggest tax is about being fair, and obviously road tax has long since proven to be out of date. 

OR! totally out of left field and not something that should be considered without considerable thought.  Toll roads. 

PS - lets not start on the fact that push bikes go tax free, and yet they seem to be successfully making inroads into the way the rest of us use the road.  ENOUGH!  A new tax (with some thought behind it) that reflects "fair"

[thatmadwoman]

I agree with all the people who think car tax should be absorbed in the fuel tax.

An extra 10p a litre on fuel would cost the average 15000 miles a year driver dependant on their economy and miles:
The 25 mpg guzzler would cost the driver an additional £275 ish a year.
The frivolous 65 mpg would cost an extra £100 ish a year.

Simple, everyone who drives and buys fuel in this country pays.

This is FAIR, removes the need for complicated costly departments that have to deal with the current tax system, thus allowing the government to benefit directly from this income.
OR, as the infrastructure is already in place, put all the people who currently administer and enforce this ridiculous car tax system to work on finding new alternative greener fuels and ensuring good quality cars are on the road for longer.

[landcruiser]

I think most people are forgetting the fact that Road Tax has absolutly nothing to do with saving the world or climate change or polar bears, It was put in place for the upkeep of the roads, so haw can anyone that uses a car on the public roads pay no road tax.
I agree with tax by the mile as the more you use something the more you should pay towards its upkeep.
However if the government wants to promote greener vehicles(which I disagree with) they could take you MOT certificate do some clever calculation between you co2 and the milage over the last 12 months and thats how much tak you pay. That way the evil 4x4ist who only does 5000 miles per year pays the same as the 307 driver who does 50,000.
that seem fair to me(apart from the co2 thing, -20 predicted this winter that sounds like global warming to me )