Road fund license to be scrapped??

[sharky71]

Just had a conversation with a colleague at work where he spoke about car tax being scrapped in the future and folded in to fuel duty?
So much for low emission cars with zero or low car tax bracket,seems that every motorist will have to pay whether driving an economic car or a gas guzzler!!

If this is true what happens to those of us who run tax exempt vehicles?

I for one will not be happy if i am still the proud owner of a February 69 Earlybay.
Fuel consumption is not the best as we all know but if the price goes up then i would seriously think of alternatives,it would certainly curtail the amount of driving i did in the van.

All this is speculation,not sure if the chap at work was on a wind up or if in deed he did read or see it in print.

:sick0019:

 

[Clem]

Its been a rumour for a long time now, I know its not in the best interests of us with tax exempt, but its 'probably' the fairest way and will save a load on administration and fraud.
Use a big gas guzzler and pay a large amount in tax, use a small eco car and pay a little, dont drive and pay none.
If tax on driving and fuel is making people think about alternative transport then that is a good thing .... its always difficult discussing these things on motoring forums :lol: We have to remember that driving a big old VW bus is a 'luxury' choice for most, and we shouldnt be grumbling about paying some tax on an old bus thats sits doing nothing for much of the year thats worth £10 grand upwards
I type this as a household with 4 cars - 2 tax free, 1 is £30 per year and 1 is £120, so its not in my immediate best interests to load it on fuel :msn4:

For what its worth, I think car tax will continue essentailly as it is for a long time yet

 

[Marriedblonde]

As Clem has said it has been rumoured for a long time. I doubt it will come in the near future. The government makes far to much out of road fund license and they have extremely high compliance rates already so it makes very little sense for them to then shift this to fuel.

I would imagine in the future when there are less and less gas guzzlers out there in the high bracket and more and more low emissions/cheap road fund license that will consider shifting to fuel as the amount they are making will have declined.

J

 

[EeVeeWee]

In the Netherlands we have this kind of system;
When buying a car, low/zero emission cars don't have to pay tax and the more CO2 emissions per kilometer the more tax you pay.
For road use there is another tax and this depends on which county you live, which weight class the car is in and which fuel, petrol costs less than diesel.
But cars older than 40 years are free from this taxes arty0006: :mrgreen:

 

[KevH]

Just to add my thoughts on this, as a scholar of social policy (for my sins) .

The tussle will likely be between The Treasury, who will demand their pound of flesh from the motorist, and the environmental lobby who see taxation as a means of manipulating public behaviours. Upping the tax on fuel across the board may mean that the incentive to increase fuel efficiency (ie MPG) is enhanced (and therefore revenues go down) whilst the incentive to decrease nasty emissions is eroded (and the health lobby gets agitated). Its a single lever with blunt consequences.

By keeping both tax on fuel (multiple taxes at that) and the RFL, the government has two levers to pull. That will remain very attractive to Messrs Cameron and co, I suspect, until somebody comes up with something much more complex (probably on the back of a fag packet down the pub). Or some nutter (maybe called Farage) takes control (but that is another issue). :lol:

K

 

[Trikky2]

Interesting discussion.

Here in France they dropped road tax on private cars some years ago - (but commercial vehicles still pay something similar).

The tax on fuel works out quite fair in my opinion.
When I lived in the UK and covered a lot of miles I always thought it unfair the way I paid the same as the little old lady down the road who drove maybe 1000 miles a year.

Here you pay for what you use, both in terms of mileage and in terms of economy. It costs the same to drive 10,000 kms in a small car doing 50 mpg as it does to drive 5000 in a big one only doing 25 mpg. What could be fairer than that? As far as i can see, it encourages both economic vehicles and driving less miles.

There is also an additional advantage in that foreign vehicles, of which there are a lot traversing the country, also contribute their share, in a way that is far simpler and more equitable than the absurd system they introduced in Switzerland.

 

[Bigbear]

Surely this is a ridiculous idea? Lumping loads of extra tax on fuel would surely put the price of everything up! Haulage firms who transport our everyday goods would just pass this tax onto their clients who would pass it on to us the customers , the cost of living would sky rocket wouldn't it? :ghoul: :shock:

 

[newhippy]

Great idea for those of us who own more than one car, but don't use them both much, ok my camper is tax exempt but my Chevy Blazer is only used for a low mileage each year but I have to pay the same tax as someone who drives one for a lot of miles each day.

 

[user 20733]

This will never happen. The government knows how many cars are registered on the road and what tax they will get from them. Then they can budget more accurately against it. If tax is on fuel alone they my lose out because of the low mileage people. Also if fuel goes up too much, people will use cars less/alternative transport and they lose out again.

Though I bet if cost of oil keeps falling, the government will see the opportunity to add a few more pence on petrol.