how to put up fuel duty AND save money - alfatrike
now here goes,

we all love paying road tax don't we? ok, i thought not.

if the government scraps road tax and puts a fuel duty UP a few pence it might work.

average driver gets 30mpg (probably not right but work with me)
average driver does 12,000 miles a year (same again, it's just some numbers to play with) and uses 400 gallons / 1824 litres of fuel to do it costing about a quid a litre.

anual fuel bill of roughly 1800 quid

road tax is roughly 200 quid for a family car like mine.

200 quid divided by 12,000 miles equals 1.6p per mile / 50p per gallon

if they put 11p on fuel duty and scrapped road tax i would be about the same BUT

the business high mile-ers who use lots more fuel pay more but can claim it back.

granny who only goes down to the shop once a week and uses a cupfull of fuel to do it SAVES.

i know most of the maths is probably wrong.

Edited by alfatrike on 19/08/2009 at 19:13

how to put up fuel duty AND save money - loonykev
My Citroen C1 doing 60mpg+, and with this year's road tax at £35, and next year's (from March 1st) at £20, doesn't like that idea. Nor do I, sorry.
how to put up fuel duty AND save money - Cheeky
But with a 3.0litre Jag and only 9000 miles a year, it sounds like a plan to me!
how to put up fuel duty AND save money - dxp55
If you think the Gov would scrap road tax and only put 11p ltr on fuel you are living in another world - look at Poll Tax - if Thatcher had said £100 for everyone it would be in place today, but no -my Rates went up from £250 to £750 in one foul swoop - the Gov can't see past the end of it greedy nose.
how to put up fuel duty AND save money - alfatrike
another benefit is to make second cars affordable. i would happily have a small economical car if i could have a landrover or van for lugging stuff around when i need to. at the moment i just can't because 200 quid is alot of money to have tied up in a vehicle i might use 4 or 5 times a month. currently you have to make a compromise between economy and usefulness, which never seems to work.
how to put up fuel duty AND save money - Robin Reliant
High mileage drivers are invariably business drivers. Everything you buy would rise in price to cover the increased costs involved, so we would all end up paying the same or probably more anyway (including those too poor and elderly to drive). The OP also seems to be under the commonly held misaprehension that business users can claim their expenses back from the Revenue. The can't, they can merely offset them against tax liability which is a different thing entirely, and not nearly as lucrative.

You would also need to register vehicles annually, if only to force eveyone to produce other documentation, and this would no doubt involve some sort of (ever increasing) fee.

Edited by Robin Reliant on 19/08/2009 at 20:44

how to put up fuel duty AND save money - Optimist
High mileage drivers are invariably business drivers. >>


Maybe, but do they have to be? With video conferencing and internet how many business users have to do high mileages?

And business users can claim back the VAT as input tax. And people don't "produce" docs any more if they tax on line and we have the MID and an MOT database.

And I don't think loonykev would be as badly off as he thinks because his car returns such good mpg.

And the DVLA could be reduced in size because there's no VED to administer.

how to put up fuel duty AND save money - Robin Reliant
Maybe but do they have to be? With video conferencing and internet how many business
users have to do high mileages?

Try delivering goods and servicing machines via the video conferencing.
how to put up fuel duty AND save money - FotheringtonThomas
if they put 11p on fuel duty and scrapped road tax


It won't happen. Big Brother lose some way to know and control us? Never!
how to put up fuel duty AND save money - Rattle
Damn it the idiots just wanted £20 of me last week for renewing my driving licence, now they want £68 of me for 6 months road tax. They want 15% VAT of me every time I buy a car part, they want 60% tax every time I buy fuel.

Cars are damn expensive but not nearly expensive enough to put people off using them :). My recent trip to wales was an example, cost £35 (400 miles) in fuel and maybe £10 wear and tear but there was four of us in the car. On public transport it would have cost us around £160.

Although round Manchester having a car is a lot more expensive than public transport but I run a business and now the time I used to spend waiting for buses is spent doing more important thing. So you can try all you like Mr Government but you will not get me out of my car.

I am paying too many flat rates insurance, car tax etc. If the government want people out of their cars and onto buses then scrapping road tax and increasing fuel duties will help. There could also be concensions for business travel to.

I am all for alternative transport methods but at the moment I will take my car every time unless I am going to town and I will hop on the tram as its cheaper and faster.