The AA has attacked the findings of the Commons Environmental Audit Committee report on Vehicle Excise Duty and has claimed that they are “out of touch with the real world and out of touch with real people.”
The report states that there is “nothing intrinsically unfair or unusual about setting new VED rates for cars that have already been purchased.” AA members disagree particularly when for some cars the VED will more than double from £210 to £430.
While more than 80 per cent of AA members agree that road tax is being used as a stealth tax, according to a recent AA Populus panel of 15,306 members (as reported on www.fleetdirectory.co.uk on July 30 2008).
AA president, Edmund King, said; “It is intrinsically unfair and unusual to introduce a new system of taxation that applies to families who have already purchased their vehicles and are unable to sell them. This is not sending out a green signal but a mean signal and is penalising many families who cannot afford to change their car. Previous TRL research looking at the effects of a £25 charge for Band G vehicles in London found that larger low income families and ethnic minorities would be adversely affected as they tend to need larger cars. The used car fleet could be cleaned up by targeting the 1 million or so untaxed, uninsured, unregistered cars and crushing them, rather than picking on poorer, law abiding motorists. A “scrappage scheme” might be worth considering but somewhat back-fired in France as many farmers cashed in on rotting 2CVs found in their barns.”
The AA president has already written to the Chancellor requesting that the “retrospective” nature of Vehicle Excise Duty for cars registered between 2001-2006 should be scrapped.
While 70 per cent of motorists agree that a tax system based on CO2 will influence the type of cars bought there is confusion and lack of information about the system which the committee seems to accept. Three quarters of motorists agree that by “backdating” the charges the value of some used cars will be damaged and people will keep older cars longer.
Simon McBride
