Why can't we put the cost of road fund licence on fuel?

Question

Then there would be no need for the police to waste their time in trying to catch tax dodgers, and everybody who puts their car on the road would pay. By all means keep the people that man DVLA and everybody would have to pay a registration fee to register as the keeper of their vehicle, and all this talk about banding based on CO2 emmissions would'nt matter because the more petrol you use the more tax you pay, the less you drive you're car the less tax you pay. Simple isn't it? Even the tourists that visit our great island would have to pay, congestion charges and road tolls are another issue. There is already a mechanism in place to cream tax off the cost of fuel, why over-complicate the system by introducing these hairbrained schemes for engine sizes, CO2 emmissions or whether you drive an electric car or a 4X4? Electric cars have to be charged, if plugged into a mains supply electric has to be generated by a power station, therefore pollution is caused, think about it!

Answer 1

This has been proposed many times - I remember reading serious new articles about this in the motoring press over 20 years ago.

There's a really rather simple reason - the "tax disc" is the proof that you had, at the time it was renewed, a valid MOT and insurance, and were able to prove it to the DVLA.

Now that the MOT system has been computerised, and insurance companies share their records with the DVLA, it may be possible in future to do without them, and possibly replace them with MOT and Insurance discs. But the new computer systems are in their infancy, and may not yet be robust enough to allow tax discs to be made obsolete. Also, knowing how our legislative system works (i.e. just about) it would take a while for the legislation to get through Parliament, and come into effect - particularly as MOT and insurance legislation would also have to be changed.

I think the current system has another advantage - it makes people aware of the pollution their car causes (compared with other cars) when they are faced with a sudden large bill. If they were paying gradually on each tank of fuel it wouldn't be such a "rude" reminder. If more charges (parking, tolls, etc.) become CO2 based, then that may suffice (the company-car taxation on CO2 ratings has made major differences to how company cars are chosen and run), but until then this is the best we've got as an incentive to choose a more environmentally-friendly car.

Answer 2

In theory the road tax is to improve our road network, better our roads, repair them, light them in certain places and make good the damage that is done to signs, pillars etc....In practice the government spends very little on roads and pockets the money.
Look at the Dartford tunnel and bridge. They have recovered the cost of building them over and over again, and were supposed to stop the tolls when that happened, instead of which they are raising the toll price again. It is just money for old rope.

Answer 3

Allowing for a motorist travelling 10,000 miles each year at 30 mpg he would use about 333 gallons. The tax on this would be about £1200. To cover the road tax at about £200 you would need to add about £0.75 to each gallon.
The motorist covering say 50,000 miles a year would be quids in. The family living in a rural area may only travel 5,000 miles then they would be subsidising the others. Not a fair way at all.

Answer 4

Until 1913 the government existed primarily on tariffs on all foreign goods, sometimes outrageously high protective tariffs to protect domestic industries (as well as excises on alcohol, tobacco, and inheritances). So while U.S. citizens may have "kept" all of their earnings, they gave it to the government in the form of the tariffs collected and added to the additional cost of goods that we would scream about today. Funny how some facts get totally distorted for political purposes. Oh, by the way, there was an income tax to finance the Civil War.

Answer 5

Why should we pay road tax in the first place when we are paying the Royals and politicians so much,,and the Queens vehicles are not taxed,,but we are taxed to death and underpaid,,so lets not put it on the price of fuel coz that is overpriced to start with

Answer 6

They already put the cost of road tax on fuel, they just didn't take it off road tax

Answer 7

Don`t give Gordon Brown anymore stupid Ideas, Don`t u think a double tax on fuel is enough as it is. He`ll be taxing the air we breathe next

Answer 8

I fully agree with you, those that use the roads most should pay more, but we need a method that doesn't require any monitoring, ie the dreaded black box, or tolls.

Answer 9

Because it would put hundreds of civil servants out of a job!

And it would be far too sensible for a government to come to this decision!

Answer 10

if we were to do that we would end up paying out alot more than we are now and the roads would still be the same