Pay-per-Mile Road Tax ‘On Treasury Agenda’ As Electric Cars Take Over

Fears over dwindling fuel duty receipts have intensified calls within the Treasury for the implementation of a pay-per-mile road tax. The Telegraph has the details.

Treasury mandarins piled pressure on the last Government to start work on a pay-per-mile road tax, Jeremy Hunt’s former top adviser has said, in a sign officials could draw up similar plans for Rachel Reeves.

Adam Smith, formerly Chief of Staff under Mr. Hunt from 2022 to 2024, said senior civil servants repeatedly pushed Downing Street to “start preparatory work on a road pricing scheme” amid fears over dwindling fuel duty receipts.

He said “eager” Treasury officials endorsed the policy following a 2022 report by the Transport Committee that recommended the move.

Given the £22 billion black hole Ms. Reeves claims she faces, Mr. Smith said road pricing levies “will no doubt be back on officials’ agendas” as she seeks to repair the public finances.

Writing in the Telegraph, Mr. Smith said proposals for road pricing became an “early issue” for Mr. Hunt during his time at the Treasury after a response to the Transport Committee’s report became overdue.

He said Treasury officials warmed to the idea of a pay-per-mile road tax amid concerns that the switch to electric cars will eat into the £25 bilion a year raised in fuel duty.

Owners of EVs do not pay the tax because their cars are powered by electricity.

Combustion engine cars are also in decline as a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered cars looms.

Labour has promised to bring forward the ban to 2030, reversing the Conservative’s decision to delay it until 2035.

To relieve pressure on the public finances, there is a growing expectation that officials will encourage Ms. Reeves to increase fuel duty for the first time in more than a decade in her maiden Budget, in a move that would raise £3 billion. …

PwC estimates the Government will lose out on £9 billion of fuel duty revenues by 2030, when one in four vehicles on the road is expected to be electric.

Mr. Hunt announced in October 2022 that electric cars, vans and motorcycles will start to pay road tax in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles from next April.

See more here Daily Sceptic

Please Donate Below To Support Our Ongoing Work To Defend The Scientific Method

PRINCIPIA SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL, legally registered in the UK as a company incorporated for charitable purposes. Head Office: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX. 

Trackback from your site.

Comments (3)

  • Avatar

    VOWG

    |

    Will that be the final nail in the coffin the England has become?

    Reply

    • Avatar

      Graeme Mcmillan

      |

      England??
      Tiocfaidh ár lá

      Reply

  • Avatar

    Howdy

    |

    Jeremy Hunt’s former top adviser has said officials could draw up similar plans for Rachel Reeves.
    Crawler. Why don’t they just merge – nobody would notice…

    Owners of EVs do not pay the tax because their cars are powered by electricity.
    That comes majorly from fuel.

    PwC estimates the Government will lose out on £9 billion of fuel duty revenues by 2030, when one in four vehicles on the road is expected to be electric.
    The govt seers no all eh?

    Labour has promised to bring forward the ban to 2030, reversing the Conservative’s decision to delay it until 2035
    Just in time to get kicked out. It was allready demonstrated by the tories that 2030 is a critical voting point. AKA, people voted against it.

    Combustion engine cars are also in decline as a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered cars looms
    What a joke. My locale is cluttered with cars worse than ever. New cars are banned, not old.

    electric cars, vans and motorcycles will start to pay road tax in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles from next April.
    Nobody pays road tax, and haven’t for a long time. It’s an emissions charge.

    In short, PPM is another thumbscrew on the population.
    https://www.octanefinance.co.uk/blog/pay-per-mile-road-tax-uk

    Reply

Leave a comment

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Share via