Car tax (again)

[Emanresu]

HMRC are not novices at this stuff

 

[Drago]

It's a shame it's not the HMRC enforcing it then.

 

[Alex321]

That'll see a nice trade in used speedo heads being swapped in and out pre-MOT time.

Not many modern cars have such things

Though I'm sure somebody will come up with the "appropriate" software to hack them.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

That'll see a nice trade in used speedo heads being swapped in and out pre-MOT time.

Not uncommon for cars on limited mileage policies to have the speedo cable/wire disconnected even easier now with GPS on phones. Also not uncommon for people to have 2 sets of clocks (model depending) to get swapped over before & after MOT's, it depends where the numbers are held, some are in the ECU others are in the actual clocks. I've just changed a set on one of the kits, whilst I was doing the wiring the clocks fell backwards shorting out the PCB, the mileage on the old clocks was 113K (I think) the replacements only have 69K

 

[Jenkins]

I would suggest factoring in the vehicle's size as well by taking its box volume (length x width x height at the maximum points) and multiplying that by the kerb weight to give a figure with the taxation classes based on this final figure. This would also have the potential effect of encouraging the development of smaller & lighter vehicles.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I like the pay-by-mile MOT station idea. The MOT station has a standing base charge, and then it's £x for every 100 mile increment above that. For more polluting cars, it would be £x.5 per 100 miles. This could be worked out from the CO2 data already held for most modern cars on the database. Then you've paid your tax on the polluting element, and the road wear element, and are already paying more through fuel taxation if you've got a gas guzzler. Electric cars would still pay per mile driven but would incur no extra for pollution element, but some consideration (charge) would have to be made considering how batteries are made and disposed of.

e.g. I pay £30/year tax for my car, but could do 25,000 miles a year. Whereas someone with a 5 litre turbo subaru taekwondo might be paying £450/year in VED but driving only 500 miles a year, therefore polluting a lot less and spraying far less brake dust everywhere, but still paying a hefty price.

 

[Electric_Andy]

so the more it weighs and the faster it goes and harder it needs to brake the more the owner pays

I would have a problem with this. You are assuming that a vehicle's power is always utilised by the driver. It does not take into account careful and envronmentally friendly driving. LIkewise on the other side of the coin, you could have a very light and weedy car but drive like a hoon eerywhere, braking all the time and billowing out 4 times as much brake dust (like most teens in Corsas on a Saturday night)

 

[Ming the Merciless]

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I would suggest factoring in the vehicle's size as well by taking its box volume (length x width x height at the maximum points) and multiplying that by the kerb weight to give a figure with the taxation classes based on this final figure. This would also have the potential effect of encouraging the development of smaller & lighter vehicles.

Thank you. I haven’t had a TMN in ages!

 

[oldwheels]

As aforementioned buddy, there are problems with the cost of implementing road pricing.

Surely that could be got round by an increase in fuel duty. Big heavy cars with big engines and those doing a high mileage would pay more so similar to road pricing.

 

[All uphill]

Car tax is very pertinent at the moment. The link between emissions and pollution has been removed for cars post 2017, with even electricity cars due to soon be paying a normal rate, and there are questions about how to tax electric cars that have no tailpipe pollution, and how to replace the revenue from fuel duty.

Road pricing has been proposed, but is expensive to implement with the millions of cameras, computers and satellite technology required, and the longer it is left the more it will cost and the less likely it will ever happen.

So I have a plan, at least for the car tax part.

Leccy cars have no tailpipe emissions and currently pay £00.00 car tax. Nevertheless, they create tyre and brake particulate pollution at a higher rate when measured against comparable ICE cars, and the dangers to health of this type of pollution is only recently being investigated properly and it doesn't look good.

So, my proposal: Electric car tax should be set by a formula calculated as...

Vehicles kerb weight in KG ÷ the cars 0-100km time in seconds. This creates a figure which can then be compared against a banded index and the higher the figure the more tax the owner pays. Let's call it thr Drago Quotient.

Both weight, or mass, and performance have a direct bearing on tyre and brake wear, so the more it weighs and the faster it goes and harder it needs to brake the more the owner pays. Set the average band at a level that will allow the exchequer to break even vis-a-vis the loss of fuel duty, and were sorted.

This will encourage owners to buy both lighter cars, and cars that are not of excessively high performance, which will reduce pollution and have a knock-in safety benefit, as well be less damaging to the environment to manufacture.

Problem solved. Remember - a vote for Drago is a vote for common sense!

I like that @Drago

Nice and simple, also predictable in advance. Fair to car owners whether ICE or EV.

 

[All uphill]

Surely that could be got round by an increase in fuel duty. Big heavy cars with big engines and those doing a high mileage would pay more so similar to road pricing.

And those that are fuelled with electricity?

 

[oldwheels]

And those that are fuelled with electricity?

Good question. Forgot to consider those but there must be a way.

 

[Profpointy]

It should be on the amount of miles you do each year

However that would mean billions of pounds on a road pricing type arrangement, all in the pocket of foreign companies.

Fuel tax for IC vehicles, which inherently and rightly penalises gas guzzlers, with something like Drago's scheme for leci cars.

 

[CXRAndy]

Nevertheless, they create tyre and brake particulate pollution at a higher rate when measured against comparable ICE cars

No they don't. They hardly ever use brakes due to regen from the electric motor acting as brakes.

My experience is the tyres wear no faster than any ICE. I have nearly 200,000 miles with EVs so can speak with some authority on this point