"Pay as you drive"

[davejh666]

No it doesn't, as you've still got to maintain roads somehow

Taxation should be based on the usage of public service and the impact you have on the public space. Ideally there should be no tax outside of VAT if someone decided to buy a car that never left his own property, as is currently the case.

Roads are maintained through local councils, which are paid for via Council tax. VED does not pay for road maintenance.

As I said before VED is 'supposed' to be a green tax. It is supposed to be used to combat the emissions from vehicles. If there are no emissions then why do we need to be taxed? Unless of course they are not using the VED money for what they are supposed to use it for.

 

[Akagi]

Do you really think the majority of tax revenue funds this sort of thing?

I thought it was obvious I was being facetious. Apparently not to everyone...

 

[Nasher]

Roads are maintained through local councils, which are paid for via Council tax. VED does not pay for road maintenance.

As I said before VED is 'supposed' to be a green tax. It is supposed to be used to combat the emissions from vehicles. If there are no emissions then why do we need to be taxed? Unless of course they are not using the VED money for what they are supposed to use it for.

Well, in theory there are lol

In my town "maintaining the road" seems to mean either badly filling in holes, which fall to bits again a few weeks later, or laying a new very rough and un-even surface. With every drain being about 2cm higher or lower than the rest of the surface ofc.

 

[Scougar]

Actually use the money for roads, infrastructure and the environment... then wonderful.

Let's be honest, we all know that A) That doesn't happen now with transport based taxes B) That won't change with this scheme.

It's a money grab. Plain and simple.

 

[Kutter]

It will start off at 20p a mile and in 5 years it will be 5 quid a mile. These things always go up, once they introduce a tax it won't go away, only increase.

 

[Surveyor]

Roads are maintained through local councils, which are paid for via Council tax. VED does not pay for road maintenance.

As I said before VED is 'supposed' to be a green tax. It is supposed to be used to combat the emissions from vehicles. If there are no emissions then why do we need to be taxed? Unless of course they are not using the VED money for what they are supposed to use it for.

There have been cutbacks but local councils still get funding from central government.

45% of my council's income comes from central government, 13% from Council Tax, 12% from non-domestic rates and the remainder from other sources.

In England central government is responsible for the maintenance, operation and improvement of the strategic road network made up of 4,300 miles of motorways and major roads or trunk roads.

 

[UTmaniac]

Needs a higher rate for short trips of under ~5 miles, to encourage people to use alternative, more environmentally friendly transport methods.

I commute ~9 miles per day by bike, it takes me ~40mins total on a hybrid, seems stupid thinking back ~9+ years I sat in jams in my car for that same trip taking at least an hour... But often longer.

 

[davejh666]

Needs a higher rate for short trips of under ~5 miles, to encourage people to use alternative, more environmentally friendly transport methods.

I commute ~9 miles per day by bike, it takes me ~40mins total on a hybrid, seems stupid thinking back ~9+ years I sat in jams in my car for that same trip taking at least an hour... But often longer.

That doesnt work though. I used to live in a rural location. Our kids school was 7 miles away, no bus service. When we first moved there and the kids started school they used to run a school bus. This got stopped about 6 months in. So, we were left with no choice but to take them in the car. Public transport isnt up to standard to 'penalise' short journeys in the way you want to.

I see today they have bought the ban on petrol cars forward to 2030. There is an awful lot of work to do on the infrastructure to make this viable. I just cant see every household or small business having the capability to charge a car by that point.

 

[Maple Leaf]

However all that'll do is mean most people would charge up using the granny cable on a 3 pin plug as there'd be no way to know the difference between than and an electric heater.

I suppose HMRC will meter the electricity using a device built into the EV so it won't matter how you supply the power to it. That will suck if you're using your own solar panels to charge your EV though!

 

[Maple Leaf]

Smart meters have stopped working immediately after switching supplier

The smart meters we were required to have installed by EDF to use their cheapest fixed energy tariffs have NEVER worked. I still have to manually submit meter readings to them to get a correct bill. Smart meters are a scam to rip off the tax-payer.

 

[Nasher]

The smart meters we were required to have installed by EDF to use their cheapest fixed energy tariffs have NEVER worked. I still have to manually submit meter readings to them to get a correct bill. Smart meters are a scam to rip off the tax-payer.

Mine apparently works again, but keeps under-reading so I have to do it manually anyway :/

I'm not even sure how it can be correct on the physical meter, but submit the wrong data online.

 

[Freefaller]

It's not even the time factor, how the hell do you get a trolley worth of shopping onto a bus/train?

.

Fair comment - hadn't considered that, and if you live rurally that would be a pain. So I guess everything in life is about to get more expensive!

 

[Freefaller]

Needs a higher rate for short trips of under ~5 miles, to encourage people to use alternative, more environmentally friendly transport methods.

I commute ~9 miles per day by bike, it takes me ~40mins total on a hybrid, seems stupid thinking back ~9+ years I sat in jams in my car for that same trip taking at least an hour... But often longer.

What about people that live rurally / countryside that need to take their car on a short trip (school run for example) where bus services don't operate? That's not really a practicable solution. Going into a city, I have to take the train as it would take too long to go into London from here - but we will be penalised to go shopping, take the kids to school or go and do local chores where a car is absolutely necessary.

 

[Nasher]

Needs a higher rate for short trips of under ~5 miles, to encourage people to use alternative, more environmentally friendly transport methods.

I commute ~9 miles per day by bike, it takes me ~40mins total on a hybrid, seems stupid thinking back ~9+ years I sat in jams in my car for that same trip taking at least an hour... But often longer.

So there will be people driving around the block a few times to get it over 5 miles, then park

That will help traffic loads.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

We already pay tax per mile. Of a 105p/l of fuel around 80p of that is tax.
This was always going to be the case. Electric cars will be taxed the same as fossil fuel cars once electric cars become the norm.

On a side note I am shocked that e-cigs are not taxed properly yet.

 

[Resident]

In all seriousness though, this was always going to be on the cards. I think it's the way of the future for sure but they need to drop fuel duty as part of it (yeah right...) or you are effectively being taxed twice to use the road.

You're being taxed twice on fuel anyway

You're even taxed on the duty, they literally have taxed a tax.

I worked it out a while back. The way the calculate fuel cost per litre

Fuel + duty then add VAT.

If they only charged VAT against the fuel then it would be over 10p a litre cheaper.