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?

As I said, a lot of the time, the custom is still there. I do small business accounts on a daily basis. Lots of the time, the turnover (sales) are pretty steady, but it's the overheads that increase which makes businesses unviable. Just done the accounts of a village bakery/pie shop/sandwich shop - their utilities bill (their biggest cost by far) quadrupled for 2023 due to the rise in power costs. They're barely surviving a massive hit like that. When you add in the rise in national minimum wage, they've gone from a profit to a loss, despite sales being steady. If utilities don't come down, they'll be shutting down next year as there's only so long they can pump money in to finance ongoing losses.

Exactly that. We have two branches of the Coop in our town with a population of 8,000, as well as two more small general shops. They’re always busy.

Your Co-op and One Stop shops are paying more for their goods than the "big" Tesco down the road. It's not a level playing field. Often small shops are paying their wholesalers/suppliers more for stuff than the big supermarkets sell at. Hence why a lot of shops buy their stock from supermarkets. I see small business book-keeping, accounts and invoices every day of the week, they're usually spending quite a lot of money at their nearest supermarkets buying stuff cheaper than their wholesalers sell it for. Like I say, not a level playing field.

Well perhaps you create exemptions like you do with anything else.

Heavier cars doing more journeys is a recipe for unsustainable wear and tear on roads
@shockeditellyou indeed it is!
I dont have a car, my local supermarkets are all about a mile away, I go there 2/3 times a week with my backpack.
I have neighbours who take the car for distances that could be covered on foot in less that 5 minutes- hence are so round that they barely fit in the car. Come to think of it increasing person girth is probably one of the drivers for increasing vehicle size?

I don't care why they drive that far, other people shouldn't subsidise their work choices, at the moment the car tax for my car is £0 apart from what I pay in fuel.

What a wonderfully selfish attitude 🤣

If everyone paid a flat rate tax I will go out and buy a big fuck you car and maybe try and do a few more miles.

Again that speaks volumes about the person you are lol

We are not all virtue signallers on here

I can tell!

Well perhaps you create exemptions like you do with anything else.

I wonder financially if that would work? Currently we pay no tax (but we lease car through motability anyway so technically they don't!).

But I pay road tax (in a way) through fuel

Wouldn't you lose money making people exempt from paying it all?

I have no issue with paying either - just the system gives the tax free.

Come to think of it increasing person girth is probably one of the drivers for increasing vehicle size?

Perhaps taxing by BMI of the registered keeper would be more appropriate.

Of course we know!!

The infrastructure isn't there and most importantly, Labour want to get elected for a 2nd term.

No country in Europe operates pay per mile outside of motorways and we already do that on the M6 toll

Its just a smear story to try and rubbish the new Govt by the Tories, who would be better off trying to re build their appeal to the electorate once again.... if thats even possible?

FGS Labour wont even tackle council tax bandings, they defo wont introduce pay per mile motoring!!!!

🤣

I certainly think there could be mileage (excuse the pun) is charging "vehicle tax" based on weight and size of the car rather than the existing system based on emissions and cost. That would encourage people to buy smaller/lighter cars and encourage more manufacturers to build smaller/lighter cars. We were looking for a small "runaround" to go shopping and other local town driving and were really surprised at just how few there are available new these days. You're basically down to just a handful or so including Hyundai I10, Toyota Aygo, VW Up, Kia Piccanto etc if you want narrow and short. Not so long ago, there'd have been Citroen C1 and C2, Peugeot 107/207, Ford Fiesta, etc etc.

I dont think that would fly. It was mean enough of me to make the comment about people not being able to fit in thier cars (sorry).
I think there is an 'arms race' going on with vehicle size, in order to feel safe people feel the need to get larger cars which fuels it even more. A financial disincentive might be able to 'nudge' things in the other direction?

I have a Citroën C1! They still exist. No road tax.

I'm just back from Norway. 90% EVs . They get loads of tax breaks and don't pay tolls. However, this is set to change as incentives are no longer needed. It was so quiet! And no one bibs their horn ever either.

I live in a poorly connected village. When they built new estates , shops were planned in. We have three scattered across the village. Literally everyone drives to them. The school run also sees many people drive very short distances. Sometimes, people are on their way to work but not always.

Something does need to alter this mindset.

piggy my C3 Picasso (12 plate and diesel) was only £35 a year tax. (Just went up from £30) my dad has a 15 plate C4 Picasso and his is £20.
Citroens are clearly cheap to tax 😂

Just got a new Škoda kamiq. Petrol. Not sure what that would be but I know newer cars seem to have much higher tax.

Just looked it up £190 a year 😳

My older Skoda Diesel is zero tax, they changed it all in 2017, stupid and punishes the less well off who can only afford older cars.....

We are not Norway.

I still know a few community carers, they get hit so hard by vehicle duty.

Cheap!

Mine is old and £735.

I'm not keen on virtue signallers.

I'm also not keen on twat batsignals either mind.

Fabran** can believe that's considered cheap having looked at cars a year ago. But £735 👀

We don't pay tax on this car as ds is exempt.

I'm sure my car before my Picasso was £135 a year and I thought that was a lot! I know one of my cars was that price.

And I only ever had small run arounds before my mpv as this was before ds was disabled and could get in and out of them 🫣😂