Car tax.

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Chippy_Tea

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I remember when it was announced they were going to scrap the tax disc everyone said it was obvious it would lead to people forgetting to tax their vehicle and make it easier for people to get away with not taxing their vehicles so no one will be surprised to read this.

The people who came up with this hair brained scheme should be sacked how many jobs have been lost and family lives ruined.




BBC News -

The number of unlicensed vehicles on the road has tripled since the paper tax disc was abolished, government figures show.
The data, published every two years, shows that the government potentially lost out on £107m from 755,000 unlicensed vehicles last year.
The RAC said the decision to get rid of the paper tax disc three years ago has proved "costly".
The measure was meant to have saved the Treasury £10m a year, the RAC said.
Figures from the Department for Transport show that 1.8% of vehicles were unlicensed in 2017 compared with 0.6% on 2013.
"The principle of abolishing the tax disc to introduce greater efficiencies has, so far, evidently failed," said RAC public affairs manager Nicholas Lyes.
"It appears that having a visual reminder was an effective way to prompt drivers into renewing their car tax - arguably more drivers are now prepared to try their luck and see if they can get away with not paying any vehicle tax at all, or are simply forgetting to tax their vehicle when
 
Well we didn't see that coming, did we:doh:? How many of those untaxed vehicles have no MOT certificate, and consequently no insurance? Being an honest motorist I'm looking forward to the re-introduction of the tax disc, and their excuses for why scrapping it didn't work. Besides, I actually used to like detaching it with those perforations - very therapeutic...
 
Scrap it altogether and make up the difference through fuel duty.

Good idea. They ought to scrap the MOT test too, what a money-making scam that is. But a certificate of insurance - displayed old tax disc style - would be a very good idea, methinks.
 
Fuel duty instead of road tax would be fair, except to motorcyclists. My Vespa T5 is £17 for tax but I will probably use 250 litres of fuel in a year. So at 10p a litre extra duty I'd be 8 quid down. That's 20 bottles of homebrew!
 
Scrap it altogether and make up the difference through fuel duty.

Would be easy for you guys, with no neighbouring countries accessible by car. If it was to be introduced here, more than 1 in 10 would hop the border to fuel up in Germany or Belgium. And do some grocery shopping as well, them countries being good beer countries :mrgreen:
 
Surely the solution isn't changing the system of taxation, but catching the dodgers. This should actually be easier with the new system, it just requires more automation with more ANPR cameras.

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it just requires more automation with more ANPR cameras.

I'm guessing that some / many of the people dodging car tax might also be driving around on false plates. I was on the M1 yesterday and was astounded at how many people were ignoring the speed limit in the roadworks with all the cameras: I guess they were somehow confident they wouldn't get caught.
 
A variable tax based on mileage would be good. Well, it would be good for me as I don't drive much! You could use the mileage from one MOT to another to work it out. Might be too easy for people to dodge by running the clock backwards though, is that a thing?!


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No system is perfect for collecting money for the use of our roads.
Although the old system at least had an immediate visual check on whether a vehicle was taxed, people still drove around untaxed.
And number plate recognition systems rely on people not changing the number plate, and it seems that still goes on in spite of the system for number plate issue being tightened up in recent years. And even if those with a untaxed vehicle are flashed and Ill bet many are still not pursued. So you will not catch everyone by that method.
Fairest and simplest method seems to be pay as you drive by an additional tax on fuel, which then includes a small incentive for driving fuel efficient vehicles. It requires no investment from the authorities and releases resources to concentrate on other stuff.
So that still leaves uninsured and no MOT vehicles. I'm sure the penalties are not really very punitive on that. Personally I think any vehicle found on the road without a current MOT or insurance should go to the crushers, irrespective of who owned it or how much its value was or whatever excuse was put forward for not having these legal requirements.
 
Actually on thinking about it, ANPR is useful for taking untaxed vehicles off the road, as long as fake plates aren't being used. However, regardless of what is displayed on the vehicle, the DVLA already know which vehicles are taxed, untaxed or SORN, and could send out fines immediately to all registered keepers of untaxed vehicles.

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Actually on thinking about it, ANPR is useful for taking untaxed vehicles off the road, as long as fake plates aren't being used. However, regardless of what is displayed on the vehicle, the DVLA already know which vehicles are taxed, untaxed or SORN, and could send out fines immediately to all registered keepers of untaxed vehicles.

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Yeh, I thought that was pretty much the whole point.
 
The fuel based system will be great when we are all running around in electric cars!:doh:

The whole system needs re-thought, there is going to be a steady decrease in fuel duty going into the coffers, it is going to have to be found somewhere, and I cant see the public i.e you and me wanting it put on our electric bills. the road tax on EV's is next to nowt also.

Bit like the stop smoking campaign, the tax was lost but at least the NHS should be getting a saving, who saves when the road tax or fuel tax is short?
 
I think a big issue is the reduction in number of police patrols in favour of speed cameras ANPR cameras cant pull an untaxed car over and confiscate it, A police patrol with a database check can.

so the income generation from speed cameras reduces road tax revenue in a way because it's easier to fiddle a camera than a police patrol.
 
Not really sure how not having tax discs is any less efficient other than you aren't able to "dob" your neighbour in!

In my local car park, 3 cars were recently clamped for not having tax so something is being done.

increasing tax on fuel would definitely help and also would mean more reliable tax income from overseas drivers.

MOT is a joke, I get that they want to remove dangerous cars from the road, but in all honesty its a spot check once a year which in most cases garages use as an excuse to exploit drivers. The more complicated cars get, the higher the costs are. a perfectly healthy car could leave the MOT station, ABS system fails and they can drive around for the rest of the year without any problem.
 
The fuel based system will be great when we are all running around in electric cars!:doh:

The whole system needs re-thought, there is going to be a steady decrease in fuel duty going into the coffers, it is going to have to be found somewhere, and I cant see the public i.e you and me wanting it put on our electric bills. the road tax on EV's is next to nowt also.

Bit like the stop smoking campaign, the tax was lost but at least the NHS should be getting a saving, who saves when the road tax or fuel tax is short?

But VED doesn't contribute much to the upkeep of roads, it's there to deter people from running environmentally unfriendly vehicles that add to air pollution, and why it is linked to emissions. If we all drove electric vehicles then there would be less impact on health and as a result the NHS.

Fuel duty on all fuels not just vehicles is £26billion, cost of pollution to NHS, £20billion. Pretty much cancels itself out.

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I am far to jealous to read any more of this post. Is it a original one or a classic?

No, forget that, still to jealous. Don't want to know. :-)

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but it's an original 1988 square tail in white. Original motor and very nice condition. The power band is....................sorry, I'll shut up.:lol:
 
The fuel based system will be great when we are all running around in electric cars!:doh:

The whole system needs re-thought, there is going to be a steady decrease in fuel duty going into the coffers, it is going to have to be found somewhere, and I cant see the public i.e you and me wanting it put on our electric bills. the road tax on EV's is next to nowt also.

Bit like the stop smoking campaign, the tax was lost but at least the NHS should be getting a saving, who saves when the road tax or fuel tax is short?

Sadly if we all drove electric cars we would need to generate 50% more electricity all day and 5 times as much at peak times. The government will realise this and electric cars will be out of the picture. I've owned 2 electric vehicles so I am aware of their down sides.
 
Yup, drive them most days at work, great for around town short journeys, but wouldn't want to go far on current tech
 
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