How much should should we pay then?
Apparently road tax and tax on fuel maybe a thing of the past
see:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42792813
... in its report "Funding Roads for the Future" it said charges for road usage should be introduced which took into account:
*whether a driver's journey was on motorways or country lanes
the time of day
*how much congestion was on the network
*drivers' financial circumstances - for example, whether they were students, pensioners or unemployed
I like the last one actually
Wonder how much caravans and motor homes will be charged?
Comments
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Surely it would make more sense to charge pensioners and the unemployed far more than anyone else.......
Keep them off the road and let those of us working to keep the country running get where we are going quicker.....
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I am of the opinion that charging for road usage would be far fairer than taxing ownership of the vehicle. The question of how much is simple. The more space you occupy the more you pay. Seems fair to me. As i am soon to be a pensioner it is likely that my annual mileage will decrease therefore I would not pay so much under such a scheme.
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It would certainly be a much fairer system,then it would mean those who use the roads most would also help pay for the damage they inflict,also would also capture those who are now subsidised, by those who pay already to use their vehicles on the roads,
The system would need to be quite very good as since the toll booths were withdrawn from the Dartford Crossings there is huge ammounts of money now owed from unpaid tolls,it will need a system that highlights vehicles that have not paid at all the channel and other crossings that then refuses exit until paid
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I may have a "gas guzzling monster", but there are seven of us in it so I want a cheaper rate than "Mondeo Man" with just one person ! !
And we have been told to treat a solo pedal cycle as if it was the width of a car - so will they pay full whack for the width?
I can see the quiet off-peak country roads becoming very congested very quickly.
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Like my bus pass, I will probably be entitled to a road pass. Let the workers fund the roads, especially the reps.
If not a road pass then maybe increase our annual fuel allowance to cover any further expenditure we retirees may have to be subjected to.
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thanks for all the replies, would all cars/caravans/MH have to be electronically tagged somehow to record mileage for this to work?
I'm certainly doing more mileage on leisure trips now I've officially stopped working.
Personally I think the treasury will just work out how much it needs, or rather (as in Yes Prime Minister) how much it wants, or how much it can get way with, and then work out how to get it?
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what about driver less cars?
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Personally I don't think they should have abandoned the proposal from around the year 2000. Had it not been for 2 million people signing a petition against it might well be already in place? In the years since then I think people are more aware of the problems of pollution and congestion so might have a different attitude now? We pay for most things by use so why not roads. It's a bit of mix at the moment. VED is static regardless of how many miles you drive. Fuel is taxed by how much you use. Some roads and bridges have tolls. To bring it all together under one charging system would be sensible. I am not sue any particular group should be singled out for cheaper rates as many that fall into those groups very often don't have to travel at peak times. It would be interesting to see some information on charging patterns so that we could work out how we would be individually affected.
David
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How much do the estimated 700,000 untaxed vehicles on the roads now today pay ! 😱 .......zero , zilch , nowt .
End road tax immediately & tax everyone through a charge on the fuel they use .😇
Everyone pays then 👍 it ain't rocket science .
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I'd like to know how they fund the roads in France - they don't pay car tax, the fuel is cheaper (not as cheap as it was but still cheaper than the UK) the only charges that are made are on the motorways.
We returned from a trip to the Pyrenees a few days ago and I must say the roads are considerably better than the roads here in Mid Wales0 -
A lot of t he "untaxed"vehicles are registered as "off road"and according to our county police traffic dept a big majority of "untaxed" are not now noticed by traffic wardens etc ,because there is no longer a need to display a visible tax disc,hence it is only a chance stop that can pick it up or an anpr fitted vehicle,the amount of VED lost since runs into millions of pounds,
As the police say the DVLA really shot themselves in foot ,but are now trying to pressurize the police into taking up the job
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Sianelen, 'Road Fund Tax' was abandoned in France in 1990s and was replaced by an increase in tax on the price of fuel. Suppose we could do the same? Fuel is cheaper there because, I assume, there is less tax on it. A small contribution to the UK tax take would be by having all none UK cars get a vignette before they can use our roads; easy to administer as you could get the ferry companies/Tunnel to do it and include it in the price of the ticket (for a fee no doubt), price dependent upon size of vehicle. Germany looks as though they are shortly to join Austria and introduce a vignette - Lutz if you're still around what is the latest?.
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A tax on fuel is the fairest because it is a direct measure of the distance travelled and discourages road use. Of course, when we are all electric the revenue will have to be raised in a different way.
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*drivers' financial circumstances - for example, whether they were students, pensioners or unemployed
Oh yes, I can see the Civil Servant granting special dispensation to the pensioner that has a £50,000+ 4x4 pulling a £30,000+ Caravan behind it and a final salary pension scheme to replace same outfit in due course.
Yes it is definitely going to be fun watching how they square this circle. Above my pay grade and as per Husky's comments, probably won't be bothered by the time it's introduced.
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lol, all of a sudden many cars are going to be registered to students
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Hey, you could be onto something, CS.
How about we set up a recruiting agency to sign up these students when the time comes and sell them (not literally of course) to pensioners?
It will be win-win. The pensioners could even register them as living there so they could get a benefit from renting a room out.
Have to set up a few offshore accounts and aliases though.
Good job nobody reads this forum, eh?
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Surely part of this proposal is to try and ease congestion? If that is the case adding more tax to fuel won't really help. The point of road pricing is to encourage/force people to use the roads at quieter times to ease journey times and pollution. I doubt many caravanners/motorhomers travel at peak times through choice.
David
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Ok, we'll split the profits 50/50. But don't tell anyone
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No need for the middle man - just get the oldies to enrole as students. Why, they can even get a grant, loan and travel expenses!
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yes, if that happened then the poor people who have to work and travel during rush hour will end up paying even more? Wow, pay extra to go to work? Has this report really been thought out?
sorry been away and just checked the date, thought I might have slept through to 1st April .
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But lots of people have to do that anyway, like those that travel to work by train? At some point we will have to face the fact that at some times of day there are just too many people on the roads. It would also be a good time to invest in good public transport so that people have a choice.
David
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Just had a mess about with figures and I reckon they would have to charge me 12 pence a mile to get back what they loose in duty. That sort of figure would certainly concentrate the mind, when deciding on a route / tour.
More probably I suspect, us light user retired types would end up paying less. The deficit being picked up by those doing higher mileage at peak.
Or I suppose they could charge us 12 p and higher/ peak users even more.☹️
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yes I agree, but those that have to travel by car during rush hour will pay more than they currently do.
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The type of vehicle may also need to be accounted for, and perhaps whether it is commercial or private. I recently crossed the Humber Bridge, toll for our MH £ 1.50, ( same as a car ) ..toll for exactly the same van but fitted as a mini-bus just in-front of us £4.00.
Also I imagine the more congested the area the higher the charge will be. We drove from Galway to Dublin Port in the autumn on the motorways, £9 for 130 miles of motorway across Ireland, but the last 10 miles around Dublin's ring road was £5.
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The plan will rely on vehicles being fitted with tags of some description that can register it's presence with some sort of network such as satellite or the mobile phone system. The latter already closely tracks the location of each telephone. Presumably tags could also be required for trailers.
It's a system that is long overdue and one that could be expanded to control excessive speed and parking.
It would certainly encourage a shift away from peak time travel. It could even result in caravaners arriving on site at 1am.
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Many problems for some however such charging is applied.
Would they need a registered account for money to be taken from monthly? Receive an annual bill?
I wonder how those using their vehicle on employers business might be recompensed?
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All this could impact on Malcolm's calculations.
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