DOOM: Tax the motorist

[HoofHearted]

Duty on fuel is currently the best way to tax drivers as it's actually quite fair - those that drive more or choose to buy a gas guzzler will pay more.

I see this move as being inevitable due to the target of stopping sales of petrol/diesel cars by 2030 and the subsequent tax drop that will come from an increased uptake in electric vehicles.

Once electric vehicles reach critical mass I'd expect a tax to be imposed on domestic chargers, perhaps in proportion to speed/current

[ladymuck]

I wonder how long the sensors will last

Speed cameras are still very much around so, despite the odd one being trashed, I don't think that argument stands at all.

[Paddy]

Road pricing in inevitable.

Sensor in ever car mandatory by MOT. Sensors on lamp post/bridges etc.

The technology I read has been tested by the DVLA.

Will be able to do you for speeding as well.

Big brother

Then again. Track and trace systems well they really work don't they.

I wonder how long the sensors will last

[mallisarealperson]

Road pricing in inevitable.

Sensor in ever car mandatory by MOT. Sensors on lamp post/bridges etc.

The technology I read has been tested by the DVLA.

Will be able to do you for speeding as well.

Big brother

Then again. Track and trace systems well they really work don't they.

[SueEllen]

We should call 2021 the year of the tax. I think we will see some extremely innovative taxation from this government. At this moment they are even probably thinking of taxing per email because of the revenues lost due to people using less letters.

Royal Mail is a private company and letters are zero rated for VAT.

[fullyautomatix]

We should call 2021 the year of the tax. I think we will see some extremely innovative taxation from this government. At this moment they are even probably thinking of taxing per email because of the revenues lost due to people using less letters.

[ladymuck]

Duty on fuel is currently the best way to tax drivers as it's actually quite fair - those that drive more or choose to buy a gas guzzler will pay more.

I see this move as being inevitable due to the target of stopping sales of petrol/diesel cars by 2030 and the subsequent tax drop that will come from an increased uptake in electric vehicles.

[vetran]

yeah good call when we need a flexible workforce lets charge people to travel.

[eek]

This story has appeared every year or 2 for the past 15 years.

I will believe it when I see it.

[xoggoth]

The UK network is too complex and therefore the system would have to rely on GPS and GSM or >. A simple Faraday cage would block the signal and can easily be fiddled They could read the car's milometer but that can easily be fiddled with a pug-in device.

Yer beat me to it! The day they fit us all with microchips from birth is ever closer.

[Paddy]

The UK network is too complex and therefore the system would have to rely on GPS and GSM or >. A simple Faraday cage would block the signal and can easily be fiddled They could read the car's milometer but that can easily be fiddled with a pug-in device.

[SueEllen]

...this is why they are happy pushing electric cars.

Drivers could be charged for using roads as Rishi Sunak looks to plug GBP40bn shortfall - Mirror Online

Motorists could be charged for using Britain's roads under plans reportedly being considered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The Times reported the move is being mulled to cover a tax shortfall of £40 billion caused by the rise in popularity of electric cars.

The UK currently only has one major toll road - the M6 Toll in the West Midlands - and drivers also face levies when using certain tunnels and bridges.

According to the report, Mr Sunak is "very interested" in the concept of a national road pricing scheme but it is unclear how the charges would be calculated.

Currently motorists pay 57.95p in fuel duty for each litre of petrol and diesel they buy - a figure which has been frozen since March 2011.

This brings in £28 billion a year, or 1.3% of national income, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, while VAT on fuel and vehicle excise duty also raises money for the Treasury.

It has recently been reported a proposed ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be accelerated to 2030 as part of efforts to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Under Tony Blair, Labour backed and then abandoned the idea of a national road pricing scheme with a petition against the plans reaching 1.8 million signatures.

Edmund King, president of the AA, said that while electric vehicles were good for the environment, they are less so for the Exchequer.

He said: "The Government can't afford to lose £40bn from fuel duty and car tax when the electric revolution arrives.

"It is always assumed that Road Pricing would be the solution but that has been raised every five years since 1964 and is still perceived by most as a 'poll tax on wheels'."

He said the country needed an "imaginative solution", highlighting a proposal he made in 2017 where drivers would be given an allowance of 3,000 miles per year - or more in rural areas - free of charge, and any mile over that would be subject to a fee.