Safe Speed Forums

...I don't know if this is the first car to do this but, the new Seat Ibiza Ecomotive 1.4 Tdi has a CO2 emission of just 99g/km, and qualifies for zero road tax (tax band A). That's free, gratis and for nothing! Now, I'm all for abolishing road tax the same as the next person, we pay enough as it is in fuel, but, correct me if I'm wrong, tax was introduced to pay for the upkeep of existing roads and the building of new ones, so if we all drive around in one of these, where do the funds come from for the new roads initiative?
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, but there's more to driving than just getting there... And saving the planet. Simply using a car as just a mode of transport doesn't do it for me. I'd have one as a second car, but would I give up my sporty gas guzzler? Err, no.

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Without self expression, we're all slaves.

There is no longer a "road tax" and there hasn't been for some time. You are reffering to Vehicle Excise Duty which is no more hypothocated for road building than the excise duty on beer is hypothocated for building breweries. Our governments have never accepted the idea of ring fenced taxation. It is one of the very few exales of joined-up thinking on their part.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Oddly, the DVLA still refer to it as road tax(road fund licence), perhaps because that's how most of us see it, but your quite right tho'. However, refering to my question, if there were 30 million 'green' cars, then where would all that road building money come from?

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Without self expression, we're all slaves.

This hypothecation idea is loathed by politicians, because it constrains them. National Insurance is the same. It all goes in the same pot.They are then free to spend money on buying votes. They use notional hypothecation when they bring the idea in, to give people the idea that things are fair, but they silently drop it after the first budget.

One way to deal with it is to pass an act, outlawing taxation hypothecation. After a while, special cases would drop off, because the public could be certain that all tax is central, whatever lies the politicians speak. We could then have a sensible debate on how to the spend money where it is needed, rather than get blindsided by irrelevant details relating to where it came from in the first place.

Alterntively, we could pass an act to compel any government product that purports to use hypothecation to actually be hypothecated. That would mean TV license, Road fund, NI, etc. Would that do the trick?

Increased tax on tobbaco, alcohol, road fuels. Increased income from fixed penalties. I'll stop there because the Chancellor's imagination is much more fertile than mine

The "Road Fund" ceased to hypothocated for road building in 1936, although it was never entirely spent on that, and it was replaced by VED in 1955. Motorists have long memories.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Yes lets spend all the alcohol excise duty on building more pubs.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown