"Road Tax" - go on enlighten me

[skwerl]

So we are actually paying more relative to the value of the bike,than cars?
ie,, A £1000 bike with a cost of £140 duty,thats what some cars pay yearly,and they cost five or ten times what ours cost?

cars pay 10% duty and 17.5% VAT so, yes, bikes pay relatively more (slightly) than cars on purchase price.
Of course, if you buy a bike on a cycle scheme then that gets wiped out. You could also buy British and avoid the 10%.

 

[bonj2]

What do you mean by 'cars pay 10% duty'?
I can understand how they pay 17.5% VAT on the purchase price of the car when it's bought from new, but what is this 10% duty/when does it get paid?

 

[bonj2]

I'll say a few things:

• I think when people say 'road tax', they mean VED, but it gets given the nickname 'road tax' because it's like a tax, it's not strictly in proportion to earnings like income tax, but it's money that goes to the government, like other tax - and the reason for paying it is to use the road. I dont' think using the nickname 'road tax' necessarily shows any particular ignorance of the purpose of its levy.
• I haven't really had much experience of drivers berating me for not paying 'road tax' because most drivers are fairly ok round here! But obviously the correct response is to say 'I do pay it, for my car. Which thanks to my bike, is currently parked up at home, reducing traffic and making the roads less congested so you can get wherever you're going quicker.'
• I think the reason bikes don't have to pay road tax is mainly not because it would be a bad state of affairs once they did, but to actually get it implemented in the first place and make the change would cause too much uproar, and the government are trying to get people to use bikes more so they won't dream of doing this. Also because bikes hardly cause any wear and tear on the roads at all or cause any pollution.
• Compulsory third-party insurance for bikes - I'm really undecided on whether this would be a good idea or not. On the fence on this one i'm afraid! I can think of strong, valid arguments both for and against.

 

[Eat MY Dust]

What do you mean by 'cars pay 10% duty'?
I can understand how they pay 17.5% VAT on the purchase price of the car when it's bought from new, but what is this 10% duty/when does it get paid?

I think they're talking about Import Duty. Might be wrong though!

 

[Maz]

Add to this, There are also an estimated 3 million poles living in the UK now...

Oooooh scary! Nowhere near 3 million...maybe 300,000 would be more realistic.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5281360.stm

 

[domd1979]

Road maintenance - local authorities receive a highways maintenance sum from the government every year, including dosh to strengthen bridges to 44 tonnes for HGVs. Trunk roads and motorways are maintained by the Highways Agency who receive separate funding direct from central government. The trunk road network is constantly changing as various roads get "de-trunked" (doesn't involve cruelty to baby elephants) and palmed off to local authorities to look after.

As for what the average motorist pays - the cost to the driver of using their car (fuel duty, VED, VAT etc) does not cover the cost that their car use imposes in terms of cost to other road users of congestion, cost of accidents, cost to NHS of dealing with respiratory illness due to air pollution. Actually, cars do very little damage to road surfaces - in the main road surface damage is down to HGVs.

I've put this in commuting becuase it is something that I get thrown at me a lot as I am commuting and I know others do too - you know the usual "get off the road, you don't pay any tax" etc etc.

I often see threads about road tax and whether the average motorist does actually pay to be on the road or not and I am still unclear.

I presume that you must pay the tax for being on the road in some way as you can't park your car on the road (legally) without it can you?

I've heard rumours that the road maintenance is taken from the money we pay in Council Tax but I'm still a little unsure about this.

When I tax my car every six months, what exactly am I paying for and why does it wind motorists up so much (my own father included I am sad to say) that we don't have to pay it to cycle on the road?

 

[col]

Most of the cars I see on the road are more than 5-10 times the cost of a £1000 bike.

Arch, yes, I see it as an equal right too, pity many drivers don't. To be pedantic though, peds and cyclists have a less limited right to use the public highway than drivers do. Isn't that the same as more?

It was just a generalisation,as example,but if you prefer.... 11 time 12 times 13 times 14 times 15 times 16 times 17 times ect ect ect

 

[bonj2]

I think they're talking about Import Duty. Might be wrong though!

Hmmm... surely that would only apply if you imported a car from america - you would only pay VAT on a car that is built for the UK market.

 

[Cab]

I'd be happy to pay a road tax equivalent to the damage I cause to the environment and economy by my cycling habits.

Who should I send my bill for a rebate to then?

 

[skwerl]

What do you mean by 'cars pay 10% duty'?
I can understand how they pay 17.5% VAT on the purchase price of the car when it's bought from new, but what is this 10% duty/when does it get paid?

Import duty. In reference to the example of how bikes pay 14% import duty and 17.5% VAT.

Unless you buy a car/bike manufacture in the EU.

I s'pose the percentage of cars bought in the UK and manufactured (or at least supplied) in the EU will be much higher than bikes that tend to be made in the far east but again it depends on where the point of sale is. If the manufacturer (eg Specialized) is based in the EU then I guess that 14% disappears

 

[piedwagtail91]

anyone that pays council tax pays for road repairs in their area.road tax-it's just motorists being total pratts and showing how little they know.

 

[skwerl]

Hmmm... surely that would only apply if you imported a car from america - you would only pay VAT on a car that is built for the UK market.

manufacturers will still pay import duty on the cars they bring in to the country to sell on, if they are manufactured outside the EU. I don't believe ID is a personal tax only, is it? So that cost is passed on in the purchase price. Different goods are charged at different rates but cars are 10% and bikes are 14%

 

[HJ]

Oddly enough I covered this on my blog just recently (don't all rush at once). First off there is no such thing as Road Tax, way back in the mists of time there was once something called the Road Fund Licence (which some driver still clam to pay), but less the driver is over the age of 88 then they have never paid it. It was abolished in 1936 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill, and that was the end of last hypothecated tax in Britain. So drivers have no more right to the roads than anyone else, we all pay for them, some of them just think they do.

The correct response should be you don't own the road, you just do more damage...

 

[ufkacbln]

As always - the reply is very simple....

Since 1st MArch 2001 all vehicles are assessed on CO2 emission and fuel used.

As a vehicle emitting less than 100 grammes of CO2 I am in class A

A class A car using deisel costs £0 - yes - nil
A class A vehicle using petrol costs £0 - yes - nil
A class A vehicle using alternative fuels costs £0 - yes - nil


So in summary my cycle is in VED class A and I pay the appropriate amount in full!

 

[buggi]

ok, this is all very well but we can't shout this back at a driver because we would never to explain the whole caboodle before they drove off.

what we need is a clever catchy line, that can be shouted back in 2 seconds and says all of the above. preferebly something educational rather than "feck off"

suggestions please:....

("it's VED not road tax" doesn't count bcoz they wouldn't get it they'd just wonder all day what VED was and come to the conclusion it's a sexually tansmitted disease.)