- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
BMW i3 electric car (licensed CC BY 2.0 by Karlis Dambris on Flickr).JPG'Road tax' is coming... but not for cyclists
Pay attention to discourse around cycling for long enough online, down the pub, on radio phone-ins or talk shows and you are sure to hear mention of 'road tax' eventually, but it is not cyclists who are going to be asked to pay vehicle excise duty (or VED, to give it its proper name) by Jeremy Hunt in next week's Budget.
The Daily Mail is reporting the Chancellor will use Thursday's Budget to change the current Treasury rules and require owners of emission-free vehicles to pay VED for the first time in a bid to plug a projected £7 billion shortfall.
Chancellor Hunt yesterday warned he would be forced to make "eye-watering" decisions in next week's Budget, with an estimated £54 billion hole in public finances to fill and a "tough road ahead" for the UK.
The news comes as the Bank of England warned we could be facing a two-year recession, the longest on record, but is likely to be controversial as it will be a disincentive for motorists to switch to electric vehicles.
The Mail's political editor Jason Groves reports extending VED to electric vehicle owners comes as the Treasury has "mounting concern" that "the drive for net zero will rob the government of huge tax revenues paid by motorists".
Emission-free vehicles are exempt from the £165 standard VED rate and the £335 premium supplement for vehicles costing more than £40,000, and the Treasury fears more people switching to electric could result in £7 billion lost in VED and £27 billion in lost fuel duty.
What is 'road tax'?
Road tax or vehicle excise duty (VED) is a tax collected by the DVLA, with vehicle owners paying at least the first year based on the CO2 emissions of their vehicle. While vehicles registered prior to April 2017 pay annually primarily on their official CO2 emissions, vehicles registered after April 2017, after the first year, pay an annual fixed rate of £165 (plus the luxury £335 supplement if the list price is more than £40,000).
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that in 2022-23 VED will raise £7.2 billion, equivalent to around £250 per household and 0.3 per cent of national income.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.
Latest Comments
- ktache 7 hours 31 min ago
The Cure, 1989 day was fantastic, what little I got to hear. I think the BBC is wonderful, not perfect, but I'm so glad we have it.
- Ride On 8 hours 15 min ago
I ended up using Parcelforce - paying online and printing off a sticker - then drop off at the post office. I came across a couple of things worth...
- Rendel Harris 8 hours 22 min ago
Reckless doesn't exist as a charge in the UK, it's either careless or dangerous.
- chrisonabike 7 hours 56 min ago
Australia?...
- mattw 8 hours 45 min ago
First Degree Assault in Maryland is serious - intent to cause serious injury, regardless of whether injury caused. A firearm makes it First Degree...
- Rendel Harris 8 hours 53 min ago
Beat me to it. 30mph on gravel for a 75kg rider requires around 680W, so those who can achieve it will be experiencing a 0.4% improvement. I know...
- mattw 9 hours 4 min ago
Good comments on the story in the Sheffield Star.
Add new comment
113 comments
Apologies - I was forgetting that words don't translate across the pond. I was meaning "doesn't take anyone he thinks is telling him what to do" - probably the key is in the "...NYC" part!
It was that he'd recently been taking a pop at e.g. some of the active travel folks and/or people who complain a bit about cars, those getting overexcited about COVID or global warming...
Liberty, personel freedom maybe. But with a conscience.
Not gun toting, truck driving?
I used to find Bikesnob quite amusing and thoughtful but parts of that piece sounds like a middle-aged man shouting into the wind.
Yes maybe...the thing is that Nigel will continue his nonsense whether ignored or challenged, as he's shown before in his many iterations - he's so desperate that he came back this time pretending to be a foreigner, like some sad twat in the local trying to come back in with a false moustache after being barred. It surely is time that road.cc mods take some action, they've banned him at least twice under different usernames for racism and other offences, if he's allowed to return simply by generating a new account it makes a mockery of any pretence that the site is moderated in any meaningful way.
They PBUs, they will all push it a bit far, again, and become CBUs.
Can't help themselves...
I think like hawkinspeter I've got bored of the repetition. If it is the same folks then they can be safely ignored. They've shown what they want out of interactions - nothing new will come of it. If you don't want to play their game, don't play with them!
But they are never left unchallenged so the alternate hypothesis is not tested.
Do you have any evidence that road.cc moderators have really banned anyone? Do we have any evidence that there are moderators? Could road.cc afford monitors if it wanted them?
I've always guessed that the trolls get bored and tour all the websites/fora/swamps that they can find.
Superpython/behindthebikeshed/cyclinginbeastmode was banned.
On multiple occasions, well 3 times (at least), though he wasn't really a troll, went too far on some things. Unlike some, proper cyclist.
Xena got banned, full on conspiracy nutter, obsessed with YouTube. But loved their bicycles, and shockingly light ones at that. Came back, banned again.
Some get banhammered, almost all trace of them is removed, makes some threads read very strange.
Great Eastern/Enjoy the Ride (formerly known as Nigel Garrage et al, currently operating as Rakia) was definitely banned for racism and other misdemeanours, which is why it's so ridiculous that they're allowed back under a new account with no attempt (bar their first week of pretending they were a foreigner) to disguise themselves whatsoever. Makes rather a mockery of the process, really.
Yes, as all their posts were removed.
Moderators is just just a generic term for maintaining the site. I doubt anyone has a full time job moderating.
I'm not aware that road.cc has dedicated "moderators" as such but I've definitely seen comments from the staff writers (Dave Atkinson, John Stevenson etc.) to the effect that they can and do ban users (temporarily or permanently) if they feel appropriate. There's also the role of "Community Editor" currently held by Simon MacMichael https://road.cc/content/news/introducing-our-new-community-editor-292277
.
Sensible move. All cars should be taxed. Most of their harm is done by car-ness rather than petrol-ness.
However, I did think at first this was going to be about road pricing rather than VED.
Darn, that will be one less argument to use on the "cyclists should pay RoAd Tax" front. How much then for a bike - if it will shut you up? (it won't)
I've never yet seen a driver attempt to ram a green plated car off the road - but I have had a "You don't pay road tax" "Neither do you" exchange with an electric car driver.
Cyclists don't cause potholes, yet are put at the most risk by them. We should get tax back.
It's inevitable. The treasury needs the funds and fuel duty is going to run out very quickly. I believe the rise in electric and death of more traditional fueled vehicles will reach a tipping point almost overnight. Anyone looking to replace their car now should be considering electric... and as soon as demand drops below a certain level fuel stations will close meaning the change will accelerate.
I'd be in favour of a mileage charge.
It's a bit like the LPG/Autogas phase. Used to be there was a pump at every service station, now you need to plan your journey in almost the same way as an EV driver. The difference though is that long haul delivery vehicles won't be electric any time soon, and that's a big part of service station demand
This is what the Germans are building for long haul electric vehicles.
https://youtu.be/_3P_S7pL7Yg
Recent reseach has shown that tyre and brake wear contribute significantly towards particulate emissions - probably on a par or worse than the best modern fossil fuel engines.
Ok all cars emit from tyres and brakes, and fossil fuel engines produce other noxious gases, but electric vehicles are obviously not completely emission free, so maybe VED is warranted - but should be proportional and significantly less than fossil fuel vehicles.
The logic probably extends to particles emitted by bicycles tyres/brakes but suspect due to the significant weight difference the proportional VED would be fractions of pennies and cost more to collect.
It's all about magnitudes of harm though. We KNOW climate change is likely to kill millions and cost trillions. Particulates are the less evil.
Although from a "politics" perspective people are interested in themselves and their immediate surroundings. Global issues are distant in space and time. So it's much easier to get people interested talking about risk of asthma locally (do cute kittens get asthma? That'd help the campaign). Witness what happened with LTNs - "uncaring middle class liberals don't care that Salima's now being KILLED by all the traffic FORCED to idle in congestion down her street."
This was inevitable, given the uptake of evehicles and the losses to the treasury, but sadly, it removes one of our most useful ripostes when told that bicycles don't pay tax, which was "neither do electric cars." Still, I'm sure we'll think of something.
Given the grasping nature of the tories, I'm not sure that they'll stop at cars; ebikes next?
I think they'll stick with the current division - below 15.5mph / 250 W are bicycles; above are mopeds.
Seems quite tidy.
Things like microcars may be a more interesting boundary blurrer.
Insanity.
Put the increase on low mpg gas guzzlers.
When petrol came back down in price why wasn't the tax decrease put back on?
Because petrol hasn't come back down in price. Hope that helps.
You'd think at this juncture that the scales would fall from people's eyes and see that the motorist is treated as a simple cash cow for the treasury, rather than this being a "tax on emissions", or whatever excuse is given.
It's come down 30p a litre in the last month or so, not far off pre-pandemic level. Saw £1.59 today. Deisel well over 185 still
So we should be. Vehicle use has a massive effect on obesity, diseases linked to gas and particulate emissions, and a huge cost to the government to maintain and improve the roads for an ever growing number of heavier and heavier vehicles. Motorists absolutely should be taxed accordingly.
Pages