MSE Leaders' Debate: Petrol Prices

custardy

Welshwoofs wrote: »

This comment from Nick Clegg attracted my attention:

"There are many people in remote and rural areas, in particular, for whom a car is completely essential – and I want to see us take up an option we have under EU law to give a rebate to those people."

To me, this is the nub of the issue. It's all very well pricing people off the roads because you want them to use public transport IF those people live in a big town or city. Those of us in rural areas have no choice but to use our cars because public transport is often either non-existant or so infrequent that it cannot be used as the choice for commuting to work.

It's good to see one party recognise the fact that rural dwellers get the bad end of the deal over and over again.

living in a city doesn't mean you have public transport though,if you are on early start and/or travel a good distance then you can need a car too

banger9365

custardy wrote: »

living in a city doesn't mean you have public transport though,if you are on early start and/or travel a good distance then you can need a car too

totally agree ,i start work in the afternoon and finish in the early hours of the morrning ,
no public transport around when i finish work and i live in a town centre ,
a car is a must for me,and taxi's cost a lot at that time off day too

custardy

banger9365 wrote: »

totally agree ,i start work in the afternoon and finish in the early hours of the morrning ,
no public transport around when i finish work and i live in a town centre ,
a car is a must for me,and taxi's cost a lot at that time off day too

my old office was on the other side of the city
i could get a bus/buses however by car it took 25 minutes in the morning
by bus its nearer 90 minutes
on a saturday over 2 hours due to having to get a night bus & normal bus
coming home through the infamous tram diversions could just be a nightmare
so yes, in that scenario i could get the bus,however thats a lot of lost time in the day where i could be doing other things

rev_henry

flyingscotno1 wrote: »

How expensive would our fuel be with that added onto it- might only be third party but that is the biggest part of insurance- not you but what you hit in liability and repairs!

Oh yes I wasn't making a serious suggestion for the UK, its just an interesting way of doing things.

Mids_Costcutter

scotsman4th wrote: »

Get rid of road tax altogether and put it on fuel.
Then those who use it, pay for it. It also gets rid of road tax dodgers, sorn, fines for road tax offences etc etc.

There's no such thing as 'road tax' it's Vehicle Excise Duty. Annual vehicle tax in the UK stopped being paid into the Road Fund in 1937. Calling it road tax implies it is a hypothecated tax i.e. ring-fenced for spending on highways - that's not the case.

Also without VED how would a government keep track of the number of registered motor vehicles on the road?

rev_henry

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

There's no such thing as 'road tax' it's Vehicle Excise Duty. Annual vehicle tax in the UK stopped being paid into the Road Fund in 1937. Calling it road tax implies it is a hypothecated tax i.e. ring-fenced for spending on highways - that's not the case.

Also without VED how would a government keep track of the number of registered motor vehicles on the road?

Is that where the term Road Fund Licence came from then?

Mids_Costcutter

rev_henry wrote: »

Is that where the term Road Fund Licence came from then?

That's right: then as now you were licensing a vehicle for use on the public highway and the disc was evidence of this.

Rolandtheroadie

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

There's no such thing as 'road tax' it's Vehicle Excise Duty. Annual vehicle tax in the UK stopped being paid into the Road Fund in 1937. Calling it road tax implies it is a hypothecated tax i.e. ring-fenced for spending on highways - that's not the case.

Also without VED how would a government keep track of the number of registered motor vehicles on the road?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_298

Very good. It's commonly known as road tax to everyone is it not? The government even call it car tax/road tax. The disc itself claims to be a licence.
But hey ho, I digress.
Whats the point of tracking the amount of registered vehicles? It doesnt raise money.
Road Tax does at this time. If you get rid of Road Tax and put it on fuel, even those that wont purchase Road Tax will have to buy fuel to use it on the road.

custardy

scotsman4th wrote: »

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_298

Very good. It's commonly known as road tax to everyone is it not? The government even call it car tax/road tax. The disc itself claims to be a licence.
But hey ho, I digress.
Whats the point of tracking the amount of registered vehicles? It doesnt raise money.
Road Tax does at this time. If you get rid of Road Tax and put it on fuel, even those that wont purchase Road Tax will have to buy fuel to use it on the road.

for my personal circumstances it would suit me
i dont use the car much,over 2 weeks since i last used it
however it still costs money to sit there,even off the road on the drive

Mids_Costcutter

scotsman4th wrote: »

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_298

Very good. It's commonly known as road tax to everyone is it not? The government even call it car tax/road tax. The disc itself claims to be a licence.
But hey ho, I digress.
Whats the point of tracking the amount of registered vehicles? It doesnt raise money.
Road Tax does at this time. If you get rid of Road Tax and put it on fuel, even those that wont purchase Road Tax will have to buy fuel to use it on the road.

The point is that 'road tax' is a misleading term: it's not intended for direct funding of roads. OK, Vehicle Excise Duty doesn't exactly trip off the tongue so 'car tax' is perhaps better. As mentioned earlier in the thread some people still say 'road fund licence'.

Why it's important to track the number of registered vehicles? It helps governments and other organisations to plan, develop and test policies. The UK government for example, needs to be able to forecast future income from VED or fuel taxation based upon current trends. Are policies to increase VED on the vehicles with the highest CO2 emissions working i.e. are people buying less polluting vehicles? The car industry may find it useful to know how long vehicles are registered before replacing / scrapping?