Logic of road tax?

[richy_B]

How do they work out road tax - This month I have paid for another year on 2 vehicles - Iveco 75 7.5t tipper @£165 and Isuzu Grafter 3.5t tipper @£335. How does anyone work out that the 3.5t van twice the 7.5t tipper??? 

[spuddog0507]

Its basically based on emissions now a days, for me its time it was put back to what it was years ago when cars n small vans where all the same bigger vans a bit more then trucks went up in each weight category, 

i read a report last week that basically said our roads are about f - - - - -d and if nothing is done soon 80% of our road network will be virtually unusable with in 15yrs, personally i think the down fall started when taxation started to be based on emissions and not what was called a road fund licence or road tax that was in between the later 2,,

Edited April 3 by spuddog0507
spelling

[richy_B]

5 hours ago, spuddog0507 said:

Its basically based on emissions now a days, for me its time it was put back to what it was years ago when cars n small vans where all the same bigger vans a bit more then trucks went up in each weight category, 

i read a report last week that basically said our roads are about f - - - - -d and if nothing is done soon 80% of our road network will be virtually unusable with in 15yrs, personally i think the down fall started when taxation started to be based on emissions and not what was called a road fund licence or road tax that was in between the later 2,,

 But the emissions from my 2015 4.5 litres Iveco 75 is considerably higher than my 1.9 litre 2023 grafter? My 1.3 corsa van is also £335 I believe and it is very low emission comparatively. 

 

I can't work out the logic behind it.

 

 

[Bob_z_l]

Agree with Spuddog.

Also it is now just another tax. In the past it actually was for road maintenance and repair. 

Now it's just another revenue stream.

 

My grumble would be about electric stuff. Years ago it was just milk floats. What damage did they do?

Now these tosslers accelerate and brake like sports cars. Thunder down the road and do as much dmage as anything else. 

 

Sorry, slight rant and derail.

[nepia]

Is this thinking too simplistic?

 

Scrap all road tax except for ev's (which can be taxed low) and put a penny more tax on fuel.  The more you use the roads the more you pay towards their so called upkeep.

 

Won't happen as road tax has become a mini industry employing God knows how many.

 

I must be missing something!

[openspaceman]

57 minutes ago, nepia said:

Scrap all road tax except for ev's (which can be taxed low) and put a penny more tax on fuel.  The more you use the roads the more you pay towards their so called upkeep.

Most EVs do not pay any fuel tax (other than the 5% VAT on domestic electricity) as they charge from home. So increasing fuel duty just increases costs for older cars that then get scrapped early (don't get me into what silly faults make a car uneconomic to repair). With 2% penetration of EVs into the pool of cars it won't be long before they devise a road usage tax.

[Johnsond]

You have to feel for the likes of old disco and 4x4 drivers, the mrs a few years ago ditched her Nissan  pathfinder when the tax hit nearly 600 a year, 7 seater too which was ideal for her and kids etc in rural Aberdeenshire especially in winter.  Current state of the roads in Scotland is abysmal to the point you literally spend more time dodging potholes than anything else. Anyone who’s been to Glasgow lately will totally get it. 

[woody paul]

Road tax should be calculated on how many miles you do. It can easily be done now with service records on new cars and mot data. Why should someone old how only does 1000 miles a year pay the same as someone how does 25000 plus. 

[GarethM]

And what's wrong with the bases of the current basic model, the more miles you do the more you pay from using fuel as your average car driver doesn't pay much ved.

 

The only real sticking point for most of us is the EV owners getting off absolutely Scott free.

 

Large vehicles don't really pay a lot as they're expected to use more fuel, whilst the tax isn't ring fenced from ved or fuel for road repairs.

 

Maybe ring fence the tax from ved, fuel and those EV tariffs?.

[David R Barras]

Pay per mile could be a great idea especially if they take into account vehicle size and weight. Those who use the roads the most/drive bigger and heavier vehicle end up paying more