Gordon Brown will issue his 11th and last Budget as Chancellor on Wednesday. Some reports suggest that the Chancellor is to raise road tax substantially on the least fuel-efficient cars to about £400 a year.
Environmental lobbyists have called for road tax to be raised to more than £1,000 for the worst polluting vehicles. Friends of the Earth have claimed that substantial measures to tackle climate change are required if Mr Brown is to leave a "green legacy as chancellor".
In a leaked memo to Mr Brown, David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, proposed a further hike for the least fuel-efficient cars after criticism that last year's Budget changes had not deterred enough people from buying them. Mr Miliband said: "The success of company-car tax reforms in encouraging switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles has demonstrated the power of these levers. We can now expand this to the market more generally and explore a substantial increase in vehicle excise duty for higher-emission vehicles, aligning for all car owners the incentive to choose lower-emission cars.”
Lobbying by the motor industry forced Mr Brown to drop the idea from his pre-Budget report in December.
A YouGov survey showed that 21 per cent of people regard David Cameron to be "greener" than Gordon Brown. 40 per cent of those polled said "neither" were green.
The Green Party has released its own "carbon-costed" budget - aimed at helping to lower UK emissions by about 90% by 2050. They say they would charge £1,800 in tax for the worst "gas-guzzlers."
Q. Should road tax on less fuel efficient cars be increased to £400 on Wednesday as some reports suggest?
To view the results go to:
http://dailyreferendum.co.uk/ (These result are archived by the British Library)
4 comments:
Road tax should be eliminated.
James,
I normally like to remain impartial to the subject up for vote. However seeing as I drive a 3.0L V6 you can guess my feelings on the matter.
I drive less than 6000 miles/year, so my emissions are lower than a lot of drivers. As far as I'm concerned the bigger the car you've got the more fuel you burn, the more fuel you burn the more tax you pay on that fuel. If the government were serious about emissions they would stop car manufacturers selling cars with engines above a certain cc. They will not do this as it is better for them to let us by larger engined cars and then tax us twice for the privilege.
Cheers
Steve
In think we couiod have sensible discusion about Green taxes if the overall tax burden was not so vertigenously high to start with. As it is why should you pay any thing .
I'm guessing that for the most part you guys wouldn't be too smacked in general, at least as far as car size is concerned like over here.
BUT!!!! 400 pounds a year? Gimme a break. So Steve gets maybe 24 mpg, but drives 6000 miles/year and pays the TAX and someone else gets 12 mpg and drives 25000 miles/year and pays the TAX....that's real nice....so who decides what's acceptable and what is not?
So, dear government...if I could afford a brand new car that gets the big mileage per gallon I would; however in the process you're making it more difficult for me to save up for one if I so choose. Oh, wait.....do I get to choose? Is there anything else you would like to control for me?
It's not enough that gas/petrol is taxed up the wazoo as it is, but this too? Sad....
As far as you commented Steve; you've got that right....wouldn't want to mess too much with the manufacturers of the cars....BRILLIANT!!!!!!!
Post a Comment