Really worried about the possibility of “pay per mile”

[Yorkiepud2614]

I’ve been seeing more and more about this new proposal “pay per mile” that would replace car duty (I think). Which the average household bill somewhere around £450 - £600. Lots of reports that it may come in this October.
Living in the Highlands this would completely cripple us. Do people really think the new government will bring this change in?

Because it wasn’t nonsensical until you started throwing red herrings in. We currently pay per mile if we have to fill up at the pump. What’s nonsensical about that demonstrably true statement of fact?

People will probably fly more.

We don't do a lot of long drives but we do drive up to Scotland once a year. We used to fly but we stopped doing that about 5 years ago to cut our carbon footprint. If the drive ended up costing us considerably more, we would probably seriously reconsider flying

Why isn't it the same? The garage would only be submitting the mileage and charging for that service just like the submit your MOT details and get paid and pass on part of that to govt as admin fee. Once the figure is confirmed the govt would claim what you owe, bit like paying interest on your savings, the bank doesn't collect your tax they just give the proof of what it is and then it is settled between you and the govt.

I can see clocking coming into play. We see clocked vehicles all the time in my mot station so I don’t think using the MOT would be helpful.

my vehicle is a dual purpose one owned by the business. I do approx 4 personal miles a day, and everything else is business mileage.

I do 1500 miles a year approx for me. My business does the rest (8500). Would I have to pay per mile on all of it? I already pay extortionate amounts of VAT, car tax, etc etc. I have a ULEZ exempt vehicle, it just makes no sense on how they’ll implement it.

I still don't understand what was so wrong with poll tax. I lived in a row of 3 houses, on one side a widow on the other side a family with mum, dad, 3 adult kids. I can't remember if there was the single occupancy 25% off back then but even if there was why shouldn't the 5 working adults have all paid a fair share for services? If there was the 25% off rule the widow was paying 75% of the bill, my husband and I were paying 50% each, the adults nextdoor were paying 20% each, never seemed very fair to me.

You can’t use the MOT that’s an utterly daft idea on so many levels.

Which MP where? Can you share link please?

In the case of the people I know;

1. Ex #1. He liked driving. Why drive a mile to ASDA when he could drive 68 to one by the seaside? He'd do things like get up at 5am, drive to Norfolk, sit in a free carpark for a couple of hours and then drive home again.
2. Ex #2. Only failures used trains. Real men drove everywhere, including 300 yards to the corner shop. So he'd go to meetings by car. Also meant he could be away from work for longer than the train journey.
3. Ex #3. Drove for a living. Would imagine he's happily claiming the same mileage allowance as somebody with higher fuel costs if he's got an EV now.

I honestly can’t remember but it was highly unpopular. I imagine tracking people and then pay per mile would be far more unpopular.

I suspect we will see taxing of EVs and possibly increased tolls in some areas.

It’s an utter joke, pay per mile them build loads of new houses in rural areas with no public transport.

Poll tax was fine at the planning stages. Initial estimates of the "per person" cost were entirely reasonable. A typical 2/3 person working household were going to pay something similar to that paid in rates.

Trouble was that they then introduced all kinds of discounts and exemptions, so the tax payable suddenly massively increased for those liable to pay in full to subsidise all those who were discounted/exempt.

Lots of households would suddenly find themselves paying far less whilst others paying far more.

The idea wasn't wrong, it was the implementation and the discounts/exemptions, pushing up the charges for everyone else.

We wouldn't have had riots if the charges had been kept at the same kind of level as original forecast when the idea first started gaining traction.

Someone didn't do their homework properly when setting it up! (Sounds familiar!)

Awful idea. The government is supposed to work towards improving our lives instead of making it difficult and unaffordable

😁 how optimistic

Not another unpopular Labour policy! Surely not.

Which is exactly what would happen here.

At face value if you did away with fuel duty and vehicle duty then you can probably calculate something that looks sensible.

But we’d end up with 50% of the population exempt due to being elderly, disabled, on universal credit etc etc meaning that no one else could afford to go out anywhere.

As you say, it's not a Labour policy. Just something the Transport Committee looked at 2 years ago.

Yes, I tend to agree with the poster tbh who says it’s likely the daily express winding people up with fake news.

Thinking about it this fits in very nicely with the desire to bring in the 15 min city/town. They want to stop people travelling so much and make sure the ability to move about becomes accessible to only the wealthy and elite.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66990302.amp

Sure. Sure.

Eh, the gantries, which have been there for ages, aren't for tracking vehicle milage and a lot don't have cameras either.

What is the source of this information? "I'm hearing" isn't evidence, whether it's true or not.

I've lived in 15 minute towns and cities all my life, which is quite a long time. Are you really set on this being something new? I presume you don't live in in UK or Europe if you believe this.

Online conspiracy theories have blossomed around the topic - many claim the schemes are designed to control the population and trap them in their homes.
However, no council is planning to stop people from travelling beyond the 15-minute radius. Instead, the aim is to provide more essential services within a short distance of people's homes.
Telegram channels devoted to spreading conspiracy theories around Covid-19 or the war in Ukraine have frequently spread false claims around the concept, linking it to all-encompassing conspiracy theories like the "Great Reset".

From your article. Conspiracy nonsense.

I think it will absolutely happen. To suits to talk about fake news. Let’s wait and see.

I think the problem with the poll tax was that it was a flat rate for each individual and not linked to earnings. So you could be a factory worker crammed in a shared occupancy building paying the same as the wealthy banker just down the road. At least with Council Tax it's linked to the value of the property (in the 1990's) so it demonstrates that the home owner could afford it. Neither system is fair. I don't think there is a fair system.

Exactly this

Where do you live that doesn't already have local services in walking distance?