Another wonderful idea put forward from the Tories.
They are considering charging up to £2000 as a showroom tax on high polluting vehicles to encourage people to buy more efficient cars.
I suppose at least with this idea we will have a choice instead of just being hammered for parking at the supermarket.
They are relentless in their quest to destroy motoring if nothing else.
Looks like another 4 years of Brown then at election time with ideas like this from the Tories.
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The problem with such a measure is that on a car such as say a Range Rover, 2 grand is a drop in the ocean to someone who can afford such a car.
If you wanted to make a real difference and Im quite sure that the Tories dont, a CO2 based sliding scale of list price charges based on a percentage of the price - the only way to hit a RR driver hard would be a charge of 75% of the list price taking it up round say the 80 grand mark - that is how you hit them, with real figures, if you really want to change behaviour that is.
I know this because its a discussion that ive had with many of my customers who drive cars like these - you have to hit them proportional to their income and spending, not with flat, low rates.
One guy said to me after they raised the road tax that he earns the additional £100 in about half an hour, he reckoned he could just about afford it, by working and extra half hour a year. Terrible how the government hits the wealthy where it hurts eh.
The same could work in reverse for those cars coming in with low CO2 - maybe a 25% rebate on the list price - this would be paid for by the few who did buy the top rate cars ( about 5 low rate cars rebates could be funded by the average RR buyer then ).
Of course, people who drive these cars WOULD hate this idea, BUT it might make them change behaviour which is what apparently what the Tories want.
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Of course people who drive these cars WOULD hate this idea BUT it might make them change behaviour which is what apparently what the Tories want.
And I always thought the Tories stood for less government intervention!!
Where is screaming Lord Sutch when you are lookingfor a bit of sanity in politics!?!
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On the otherside you don't want to hit new car sales too hard.
The UK may not have any mass manufacturers but there are still a lot of people employed in tier 1 & 2 companies and suppliers to them. Destroy the new car market, especially at the top end where investment is made and these companies will be affected. They make their money from the Mercedes S Class and co. new ideas, not supplying dashboards for superminis.
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If you wanted to make a real difference and Im quite sure that the Tories dont a CO2 based sliding scale of list price charges
What would achieve their intent, were it possible , would be to ration fuel to 250gallons/1150l per OTR car owner per year, or some such arrangement.
;)
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then I'd nip out and buy a £25 wreck for each of the family from the three year old to Granny oh, and I'd 'look after' their ration books....
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Don't see anything wrong with the idea - except that if you don't want to pay you just nip across the channel for your RHD Range Rover and avoid the tax. Bring it back full of booze and avoid some more!
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The peril of stuff like this is that once a tax becomes big enough to be worth avoiding, it will be.
As an example, stamp duty in Portugal is high enough that people started companies to own houses. Sale of companies was exempt, so you bought a company that owned a rather than the house itself. So the tax take reduced.
Add a few thousand quid to the cost of a new car and ways will be found to avoid them. Preregister all of them in the Channel Islands/France? Dunno, but a way will be found.
V
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then I'd nip out and buy a £25 wreck for each of the family from the three year old to Granny oh and I'd 'look after' their ration books....
That'd be OK - but for the fact they'd need to pay road tax, get "their" cars MOT'd and insured 3rd. party, and have a valid driving licence - and then they'd be able to sell their ration books to you for a good sum!
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