Do You Think Pay as You Drive Taxation is a Good Thing?
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The Chancellor Rishi Sunak is in favour of the scheme to offset a tax black hole when fuel duty and vehicle and excise duty based on emissions outputs are no longer applied to motorists.Do you think it will be a good thing ?
I imagine there will be plenty of ways to tax electric vehicles without resorting to pay as you drive. They can set vehicle excise duty higher in the future and put tax on commercial electric charge points.
Unfortunately putting tax on commercial charge points won't work, it's probable that most owners will have their own charging points. Maybe odometer (mileage) readings at regular intervals might be a better answer, then people would pay for how much they drive on the roads. IMO the mileage is a fairer way of taxing usage.
davidstockport I think think private home charging would be simple to tax . Ever heard of Smart meters ? Very simple to wind them up a couple of pence per KWh once you registered an EV .
But don't get me started on smart meters ! While not totally against them I'll need a hefty bribe to get one fitted , just to save me inputting my readings to the company (as I have done today 2 minutes in total ) . And having a "free " pretty monitor on my mantlepiece !
Golfforall Thanks for that it reminded me I had to input my meter readings by the 2nd January.
Although with modern technology what you say is possible, it would be more reasonable to reduce the cost, as most cars would be charged up through the night when electricity is cheaper for those on Economy 7.
Perhaps another way could be to have some meter in the car that registered the electricity input from all sources. Although I still think the mileage is preferable and easier. Big cars would use more and so would be charged* more.
*No pun intended on "charged".
davidstockport Yes there are many considerations with smart meters . In fact "economy 7 " could be viewed as a crude form of smart metering .
In future a smart meter could give us cheaper electricity when the grid has excess capacity ( when its windy or sunny for instance ) .
Not against it in principle but my worry at the moment is that once they bring in "differential pricing " it will make it impossible for us to do a valid comparison when working out who to switch to .
Golfforall I actually have Economy 7 at the moment, it means I buy electricity at a reduced rate during the night (when there's less demand), but have to pay more for it through the day. The comparison sites actually ask for previous years usage when making estimates of best deals. Although they will estimate the percentages, based on averages, if required.
For anyone puzzled by the reason for this: it is to charge storage heaters through the night. It will probably make a comeback as gas boilers are phased out, and electricity prices becomes competitive with gas for heating.
davidstockport No not puzzled , I have Economy 7 too and don't have storage heaters (although that was the reason it was brought in years ago ) .
I am on an economy 7 tariff which works out cheaper for me (possibly as I work shifts ) . Just input your last years figures and the comparison site works out the cheapest tariff . This is currently possible as you input night usage and day usage . My point is that variable differential pricing will make a comparison impossible .
Golfforall I do believe that many energy companies would combine the low and high readings and charge the normal price for the total energy used, for those no longer needing to charge up storage heaters if it is a better price for the user, without a meter change being required, but realised as I wrote that they could now force people into a change to a smart meter.
I was contemplating asking if I could change to the combined charge during summer months then back to Economy 7 in winter (I can do sums) but changed my mind - I don't like being told to £&ck off!
davidstockport Home charging will be much cheaper yes but slower and likely over night but you will need rapid commercial charging for longer journeys and that is where the tax comes in. Commercial vehicles will need frequent charging. It's one of the ways to free up commercial charging points because if we are forced to have electric vehicles we want to motivate as many people to charge their cars at home. So taxation of commercial charging points is a way of regulating demand and preventing lengthy waiting times as well as valuable source of tax revenue. That's the theory anyway.
I believe something similar was considered in the 80s or 90s (different era ,different fuel ) . Scrap the tax disc add 3p a litre on fuel to make up the income .
Seemed fairer to me just on a wear on the roads basis . The more you drove on the roads and the bigger your vehicle the more you pay .
Never got anywhere - though fairer and a more efficient way of collecting the road tax it would have cost lots of jobs in Swansea ( a Labour heartland ) and a Labour government was in power at the time .
In this era , they are chucking money at getting us all into EVs and getting rid of gas CH boilers to meet our Carbon emission obligations . A Laudable long term plan for the planet which I support -but is it affordable given the current crisis ?
I'm all up for it. I do not drive that much for work or social and my car tax is expensive. I don't see that all the car tax goes to the upkeep of our roads anyhow.
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