Proposed new road tolls

[nightrider]

How are the proposed new road tolls going to be worked out, is it just for motorways? and what will happen to the normal road taxes?

[Tracker]

Nobody knows Malcolm!

 

But rest assured that however they try and spin any new taxation it will only cost more and never less for the likes of you and I.

 

I really can't see road tax for older and more powerful cars being reduced as that would be totally non pc for the loony Greens.

 

The crazy part is that our nearly new Lexus is free for VED and covers some 10000 miles a year at over 50 mpg and our 8 year old Toyota MR2 costs £245 a year and covers about 1000 miles a year at about 35 mpg so where is the common sense in that as we are paying twice with both VED and fuel duty?

 

I personally don't think that any car should be VED free and there should be a return to a flat rate for all which equates to the average for all cars on the roads as it is ridiculous for those who can afford new cars to be subsidised by those who can't. Once again those least able to pay feel the hardest impact from an unfair taxation regime.

 

Given the choice I would rather see a few pence more on fuel duty than road tolls with all the complications that involves as well as the resultant traffic flow distortions as people seek to avoid tolls.

 

By why should common sense and logic ever prevail in government?

[Brian Kirby]

Ah, but they could always introduce a vignette system for motorways and certain other dual carriageways. Far more efficient in terms of cost, and land use, than toll stations. ANPR makes the checking easy, the technology is relatively cheap, and only those using motorways would pay. Think of the revenue from all those foreign trucks! :-)

 

That should leave many of the rural poor (the worst affected?) to travel at lower VED rates, however vehicle emissions are factored in.

[Guest pelmetman]

I for see a rise in number plate theft and cloning *-)

 

http://www.speedyreg.co.uk/date-of-birth-number-plates

 

Amazing what you can buy on the tinternet innit (lol) (lol)

[Guest Peter James]

Despite the expense of collection and the undesirability of directing traffic off motorways on to minor roads, it works for countries like France because they are Transit Countries with about 5 times as many foreign vehicles on their roads as Britain. (Because they are crossing Britain to Spain, Spain to Italy etc etc) So France is collecting tolls from foreigners who would otherwise pay nothing for the use of the roads.

Britain is different. Apart from a tiny amount of traffic going to Southern Ireland, all the road traffic in Britain has business here, so road tolling would just be another stealth tax on the British population.

I have posted this link on another thread, but its just as relevant to this one: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/9643998/Our-tax-system-is-a-chain-around-the-economys-ankles.html

 

Britain has long taxed its lorries more than the rest of Europe because the consumer doesn't seem to realize that lorry road tax is inevitably passed on to them.

More seriously, the British International Haulage Industry is going the same way as British Merchant Shipping because of this tax policy - taxed out of existence.

 

[nowtelse2do]

Think I will re-open one of those old cafes on the A5. Lot of traffic that is not in to much of a hurry will be going back onto the old trunk roads methinks. Lots more traffic jams ahead. Well that's progress I suppose.

 

Dave.