Taxing times

As usual a tax on the motorist, not just the motorist but the poorest motorist. The people who drive the older more environmentally unfriendly cars are at the bottom end of the scale, if they are penalized they will not be able to afford to switch to greener cars as they are much more expensive in the first place and all that will happen is that these people will suffer even greater financial hardship than they are now.
Why not incentivize them by offering them financial carrots to enable them to change their cars to greener examples but no not this government they would rather keep taxing the poorest in our society. I wonder if Tim Yeo has ever had to scrape together £1,000 to buy a car that is reliable enough to get him to work or transport his family on a well earned family holiday in an old jalopy which costs him a fortune to run? Yeah didn’t think so.
By all means tax great big gas guzzlers but why not do it gradually over a period of time, give people ample opportunity to become greener or introduce a scheme where someone on a low income can afford to buy a £10,000 green car on £12,000 per year wages.
As usual let’s batter the motorist. Here’s a stat for you; despite the used car market dropping 3% per month 4WD sales have only dipped by 2% over the period as although the VED is going to be £400 per year on these cars the savings on new 4wd are now so massive that £400 is a drop in the ocean compared with saving £10 – £15,000 on a big gas guzzler. It’s another knee jerk reaction by government which ensures that people who can afford expensive gas guzzlers are now even more comfortable, they have just taken advantage of the chaos and panic with consumers and manufacturers bailing out of this stock like lemmings for the sake of an extra £250 per year road tax, you couldn’t make it up!

Subscribe to Motor Trade Insider by Email