Families to pay at least £190 as pay-per-mile car tax bands introduced
"Families" could be hit with a £190 bill under new pay-per-mile car tax bands from October.
The potential introduction of a pay-per-mile car tax by the Labour government could see the replacement of vehicle excise duty (VED), with predictions suggesting "families" will "pay more". The scheme could start at £190, based on forecasts that the pay-per-mile system would cost families more than the current VED.
Andrew Jervis, CEO and founder of ClickMechanic, has highlighted that "families" are likely to be among those most affected. He said: "There will undoubtedly also be concerns about the impact on low-income households who rely on their cars for essential travel."
Read more: DVLA warns drivers to keep four documents in glovebox or risk £1,000 fine
Transport experts argue that higher taxes may be necessary to alleviate congestion, noting that motorists already lose one billion hours annually due to traffic jams. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and author of "Follow the Money", a book on tax and spending policy in the UK, suggests that road pricing is an inevitable solution.
He said: "Unless we want to lose an awful lot of tax revenue, we're going to have to move to some way of taxing driving and the obvious way to do that is some kind of road pricing," reports Birmingham Live. "My view is that we need to do this relatively quickly. But obviously, that's politically difficult."
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He points out that fuel duty, which stands at 52.95p per litre of petrol, already taxes drivers based on distance travelled. This means the more you drive, the more fuel duty you pay.
In addition to existing charges, petrol car drivers are already burdened with VAT on fuel and vehicle excise duty, commonly referred to as "road tax". When Auto Express inquired HM Treasury about the potential introduction of a pay-per-mile road tax system, the department chose not to comment.
The response from the Treasury was: "We are committed to supporting our automotive sector as we transition to electric vehicles in order to meet our legally binding climate targets."