Road tax changes and EV's
Discussion
I dream of paying less than £200 road tax...
I've always thought "Road Tax" should go on the fuel, that way it's based on how much you pollute rather than your ability to pollute. It also stops people avoiding the tax, if you fill up and drive, you have paid the relevant tax.
Anyway, when you have lived in Ireland and paid Irish Road Tax for a few years you can really start to complain.
I'm currently paying €710 on a 12 year old Santa Fe, as this is is pre 2008, tax is based on engine size, lucky I don't still have my 4.2 Landcruiser that would be €1850? for 12 months. Even the post 2007 CO2 regime has €2300 per year at the highest end.
Oliver.
I've always thought "Road Tax" should go on the fuel, that way it's based on how much you pollute rather than your ability to pollute. It also stops people avoiding the tax, if you fill up and drive, you have paid the relevant tax.
Anyway, when you have lived in Ireland and paid Irish Road Tax for a few years you can really start to complain.
I'm currently paying €710 on a 12 year old Santa Fe, as this is is pre 2008, tax is based on engine size, lucky I don't still have my 4.2 Landcruiser that would be €1850? for 12 months. Even the post 2007 CO2 regime has €2300 per year at the highest end.
Oliver.
jkh112 said:
Why should road tax be proportional to CO2?
If anything was unfair it was the previous road tax regime of free road tax for vehicles emitting low CO2.
(yes I know it is not actually called road tax).
but why is there only £20 a YEAR difference between a pure ev with a range extender that if you did less than 100 miles a day would NEVER be used and a 2.0 turbo petrol 4 wheel drive car that is ALWAYS producing 149g/km of Co2 If anything was unfair it was the previous road tax regime of free road tax for vehicles emitting low CO2.
(yes I know it is not actually called road tax).
Downward said:
The money lost by these people paying £0 VED needs to be recovered somewhere.
Bit silly with the i3 though which can run only on electric. Understandable for the big PHEV’s.
Will it make a differwnce to sales paying £12 a month for the i3 in VED though ?
I've got two cars I'm paying £0 road tax for: a BEV and a PHEV. I also have two cars that are old and petrol driven and pay a frikkin' fortune in road tax for. None of this is rational.Bit silly with the i3 though which can run only on electric. Understandable for the big PHEV’s.
Will it make a differwnce to sales paying £12 a month for the i3 in VED though ?
PixelpeepS3 said:
but why is there only £20 a YEAR difference between a pure ev with a range extender that if you did less than 100 miles a day would NEVER be used and a 2.0 turbo petrol 4 wheel drive car that is ALWAYS producing 149g/km of Co2
Because VED isn’t about emissions, in truth. It’s about raising tax wherever. Lower VED was used as a carrot to persuade people to buy EVs, just as it was earlier used to persuade people to buy more fuel efficient ICEs.
As we all know, once lots of people are in EVs any benefit will disappear and you’ll be fed another story to justify an increase in tax.
As for VED being a road tax, that’s how it started and it’s still required if you’re going to use a car on the road. A skunk by any other name still stinks. The DVLA is very clear that it’s a tax. If you don’t go on the road you don’t need it. What else can it be?
VED simply means Vehicle Tax. If it’s not to allow its use on the road, why are other possessions not subject to a similar penalty? Mowers, furniture, machinery, tools etc?
PixelpeepS3 said:
but why is there only £20 a YEAR difference between a pure ev with a range extender that if you did less than 100 miles a day would NEVER be used and a 2.0 turbo petrol 4 wheel drive car that is ALWAYS producing 149g/km of Co2
The Audi will pay way more in fuel duty than the i3. I'm more amazed that you're surprised that tax can be like thisPixelpeepS3 said:
but why is there only £20 a YEAR difference between a pure ev with a range extender that if you did less than 100 miles a day would NEVER be used and a 2.0 turbo petrol 4 wheel drive car that is ALWAYS producing 149g/km of Co2
For the same reason that many are paying over £500 per year to do 1k miles, but you are paying much less even if you did 20k miles, and for the same reason you are paying tax on 2 cars but can only drive 1 at a time... It's not a fair tax! 
We all have to suck it up, unfortunately. I don't see why I'm subsidising others by paying tax on fuel to do 21mpg and paying £300 a year (old car fortunately), but no one forced me to buy this car.
Edited by donkmeister on Wednesday 11th April 15:07
It's fair in that you still drive on the road, you still contribute to wearing it out which still needs repairing....
The fact that the roads don't get repaired is a different matter.....
VED should be on the Fuel and taxed at the pump. Those with guzzlers pay for it, those without won't. Or, charge it on mileage covered. The big users pay, the small users don't. Either are fair all round (especially for guzzlers that cover minimal mileage!)
And why haven't we replaced VED badges with compulsory Insurance ones!
The fact that the roads don't get repaired is a different matter.....
VED should be on the Fuel and taxed at the pump. Those with guzzlers pay for it, those without won't. Or, charge it on mileage covered. The big users pay, the small users don't. Either are fair all round (especially for guzzlers that cover minimal mileage!)
And why haven't we replaced VED badges with compulsory Insurance ones!
I must admit that i'm also slightly confused by the current VED regime as I too believe it should somehow be based on useage rather than emissions, with a sliding scale towards the zero emissions end. I only cover around 6k per annum anyway so don't think that would be a bad method for my usage.
That said I have benefited significantly in recent years as three of my classics are now exempt, my wife's car went from being a £400ish per annum Range Rover to a £0 Cayenne Hybrid. My daily was a C63 with the turbo engine and it was something like £400 too but I changed to an older M6 which has significantly higher emissions but pays less again! Anyway the VED bill used to be around £2000 and is now around £300.
That said I have benefited significantly in recent years as three of my classics are now exempt, my wife's car went from being a £400ish per annum Range Rover to a £0 Cayenne Hybrid. My daily was a C63 with the turbo engine and it was something like £400 too but I changed to an older M6 which has significantly higher emissions but pays less again! Anyway the VED bill used to be around £2000 and is now around £300.
super7 said:
VED should be on the Fuel and taxed at the pump. Those with guzzlers pay for it, those without won't.
I'd go for this - put basic third party insurance on too (reduces hit and run) and limit the amount of fuel that can be brought into the country in the tanks of goods vehicles (so trucks pay their way regardless of whether they do overseas trips... would be difficult in practice though).I'd end up paying more, but the system now is distorted and doesn't accomplish the goal of reducing co2 as well as a real-world "fuel used" tax would.
donkmeister said:
super7 said:
VED should be on the Fuel and taxed at the pump. Those with guzzlers pay for it, those without won't.
I'd go for this - put basic third party insurance on too (reduces hit and run) and limit the amount of fuel that can be brought into the country in the tanks of goods vehicles (so trucks pay their way regardless of whether they do overseas trips... would be difficult in practice though).I'd end up paying more, but the system now is distorted and doesn't accomplish the goal of reducing co2 as well as a real-world "fuel used" tax would.
3rd party contribution is an interesting one although government running an insurance scheme is not an area I think they'd be good at.
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