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 is obvious to anyone that this is going to cost more for working families who live rurally.

I live in London and have these issues.

It would be instead of fuel tax, not as well as. The point is that as people stop buying petrol and diesel, the government isn't getting fuel tax.

So they need to tax road use instead.

But they won't do it unless and until most cars are electric.

Have you? I live in a town of 20000 people. It's considerably more than 20 mins walking to the supermarkets, post office, cashpoint and we have no bank any more.

But it already does. I can walk to my local town centre so I don't use fuel. But neither do I rack up mileage on my car.

If I lived rurally I'd have to get in the car and use up petrol. You either pay more fuel tax or you pay for road use tax.

So again - why the angst.

Because it will quite clearly cost more than it does now? 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

Jeez the level you have to explain things to some people.

It would be instead of fuel tax, not as well as.

Of course it will 🤣👍🏻

You don't live in London by that description.

It would have to be.

That must be a rare thing - I've lived in villages that have all of those things within a ten minute walk.

I don't live in a city now, but I have everything within a ten minute walk still.

What you're actually saying is, your town used to be a 15 minutes town, and that it was a good thing.

Perhaps you could advise the poster that is paranoid about them instead.

Think again

No it wouldn’t.

Have you seen the state of the roads (partly because EVs weigh more?) The BBC article refers to increases to fund schools. There is a massive black hole already - they aren’t going to fill it by charging the same amount as at present are they?

Everyone will have to pay the charge and those with petrol or diesel will have to pay double. And the environment will be given as the reason.

There will be still tax on petrol and diesel this is just another stealth tax.

EVs don't use fuel

Yes, I know it is a conspiracy theory, because I just made it up myself to make a point.

It makes much more sense than your conspiracy theory imo.

Where do I live then? I live in a London Borough, I am covered by the ULEZ and LEZ.

People like you think that the whole of London is like Zone 1-2, its not.

I am more likely to see a herd of Deer on the road than a bus.

Nobody would be paying double. Unless it replaced fuel tax there would be no justification for changing it. The entire point would be to ensure EV drivers pay their share. Not that I’ve seen any convincing evidence that this government is even considering it.

I've lived in most London zones from 1 - 6. I have always had a local doctors, shops, park, library etc.

Bc it's how towns and cities in UK and Europe grew up organically, before cars existed. People walked everywhere.

Everything is going to fund schools.

VAT on private school fees and now this.
Lots of private school children get driven to school in a Chelsea tractor so a double tax on them is good.

You're literally making up policies and numbers to get cross about and claiming that they're "obvious".

When this was last looked at the committee came to the conclusion that a) something along these lines was inevitable and b) it should be revenue neutral. I'm not sure why it's obvious that Labour would want to overtax the rural middle classes.

The people who probably will end up with the short straw in the long run are the ones who bought electric cars, have got used to paying minimal tax on their mileage and naively believed that it will be like that forever. Eventually they're going to have to start paying up to fill the gap. But as we keep being told that people in rural areas couldn't possibly use electric cars anyway, presumably there won't be too many of them.

Drip drip stories like this do serve a useful purpose in informing electric car drivers that their tax burden almost certainly will increase over the next few years, so they should bear that in mind when making choices.

I disagree, I don’t think they can just ‘even it up’ between petrol/ diesel and EVs. But time will tell won’t it.

Yeah I lived near Richmond park too. Lots of local services in zone 6.

Its not going to cost more for anyone because it wont happen.

The originator of this story is none other than Adam Smith, ex chief of staff to Tory Jeremy Hunt.

Given the credence so many posters are giving this story, its not surprising so many fall victim to online scams in the UK, there seems to be a considerable number of people who will believe almost anything.

Come to Cornwall. We're fucked for infrastructure. No NHS dentist with space in the entire county, one proper hospital at Truro, oh and no motorway at all.

Most villages in this area have no shop, cash point, post office, petrol station, electric chargers etc.