New Car Tax rates in April 2024

Uncletech

I still don't understand why car tax will no longer be based on emissions for cars registered after 2017.  Surely this flies in the face of climate change? Please clarify if I have this wrong.

MattMattMattUK

Uncletech said:

I still don't understand why car tax will no longer be based on emissions for cars registered after 2017.  

Because the government decided to change the system as the vast majority of cars fell into the low emissions category the revenue was significantly reduced.

Uncletech said:

Surely this flies in the face of climate change?

Nope. Zero emission vehicles will pay nothing, more polluting vehicles will pay significantly more as a first year amount. Less efficient vehicles will also use more fuel so paying significantly more duty and VAT per mile. 

Uncletech said:

Please clarify if I have this wrong.

You seem to be taking the view "I do not like this, therefore it must be wrong", and trying to find justifications for your position, rather than looking at the changes as implemented. 

Alanp

People seem to have forgotten that, the then chancellor George Osborne altered the ved and promised that from 2020, the money collected would be spent on roads maintenance ect, so by now, we all should be driving around on billiard smooth roads, how is that working out so far?

Mildly_Miffed

Uncletech said:

I still don't understand why car tax will no longer be based on emissions for cars registered after 2017.  Surely this flies in the face of climate change? Please clarify if I have this wrong.

Don't forget that the first year tax is still directly CO2 related.

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables

Mildly_Miffed

Alanp said:

People seem to have forgotten that, the then chancellor George Osborne altered the ved and promised that from 2020, the money collected would be spent on roads maintenance ect, so by now, we all should be driving around on billiard smooth roads, how is that working out so far?

Almost all road maintenance is done by local authorities.

My county's council has had its central government grant cut by 98.5% (£1,000/household/year) since 2010, while council tax rises have been legally capped at or below inflation.

Of course, George Osborne might have announced the change in the 2015 Budget Statement, but was not chancellor once it was implemented in April 2017. There may have been other factors at play harming the country's economy after 2016.

EnPointe

Car_54 said:

Could the OP not SORN his car before the rate rise, and then re-tax it for a further year at the old rate?

No,  because it  does not change the  date of First Registration 

Ectophile

Uncletech said:

I still don't understand why car tax will no longer be based on emissions for cars registered after 2017.  Surely this flies in the face of climate change? Please clarify if I have this wrong.

The government isn't making enough money from car tax.  When thet created the banding system, with lower CO2 cars paying less tax, everybody responded by buying more efficient cars.  So there's now a big hole in the government's finances.  So they are effectively scrapping the banding system for new cars.

Raising money is more important to the government than the climate.

Uncletech

I apologise for being unaware that the VED rules changed in 2017 as I have never bought a car manufactured since then. I guess people just accept whatever the rate is when they buy without being aware of the different structures.  I can now understand why there has been a large increase in SUV's since 2017 as there was essentially a tax reduction on larger emissions from that date.  It ceratainly doesn't help to reduce global warming.

sevenhills

MattMattMattUK said:

Nope. Zero emission vehicles will pay nothing, more polluting vehicles will pay significantly more as a first year amount. Less efficient vehicles will also use more fuel so paying significantly more duty and VAT per mile. 

What do you mean by zero emissions?

What are the real C02 emissions of a fully electric car using todays energy grid?

I am with the 100% renewables tariff from Octopus, but its meaningless isn't it?

facade

Uncletech said:

I apologise for being unaware that the VED rules changed in 2017 as I have never bought a car manufactured since then. I guess people just accept whatever the rate is when they buy without being aware of the different structures.  I can now understand why there has been a large increase in SUV's since 2017 as there was essentially a tax reduction on larger emissions from that date.  It ceratainly doesn't help to reduce global warming.

In your original post you said

Uncletech said:

I bought a low emissions petrol car after a lot of research and was pleasantly surprised to find that my Vehicle Excise Duty was only £30.00 per annum because the emissions are only 114gms per litre.

What annoys me most is that my car was first taxed in April 2017. If it had been registered one month earlier, the tax would only be £35.00.

And I said that both these facts cannot be true at the same time as a car first registered in April 2017 would have been taxed under the present "flat rate" rules.

So your car must have been registered before March 31 2017. The date of manufacture doesn't matter, it is the date of first registration that counts.

If your car was registered on 31 March 2017 it makes it worth more than one registered a day later as it saves £100 a year in tax.