£490 road tax, does it put you off?
Discussion
Let's get one thing sorted, I've called it road tax but then so do the government so let's just leave it at that, ok? 
So, on to the question at hand. Does it? Should it? Compared to say something mildly interesting at £200 a year cheaper to tax it's only a couple of fill ups but I find it quite a psychological barrier in future car purchase.
It just seems so unnecessary.
I emailed a fellow poster on why he hated his M3 so much as a fancy one & it was on his list too.
So PH, does (& if it does, why?) it matter that a £45k car costs £200 a year more?
So, on to the question at hand. Does it? Should it? Compared to say something mildly interesting at £200 a year cheaper to tax it's only a couple of fill ups but I find it quite a psychological barrier in future car purchase.
It just seems so unnecessary.
I emailed a fellow poster on why he hated his M3 so much as a fancy one & it was on his list too.
So PH, does (& if it does, why?) it matter that a £45k car costs £200 a year more?
to clarify my OP, i've had cars in the highest tex band in the past & no doubt will in the future but there is a certain smug pleasure in that i can tax & insure the GP for me & the mrs for less than it used to cost me to simply tax the ///M
i think in my personal example, doing the mileage that i do (very little week on week but lots in one go on trackdays/eurohoons) the act of buying a £490 (it's gone up!) tax disc is akin to taking £250 & throwing it on the fire.
can i afford to throw £250 on the fire? yes of course. but do i enjoy it? no i bloody well don't!
i think in my personal example, doing the mileage that i do (very little week on week but lots in one go on trackdays/eurohoons) the act of buying a £490 (it's gone up!) tax disc is akin to taking £250 & throwing it on the fire.
can i afford to throw £250 on the fire? yes of course. but do i enjoy it? no i bloody well don't!
otolith said:
The point of the exercise is to put people off buying cars which emit a lot of CO2 per mile. People find one big bill much more off-putting than a few pence extra on petrol. There are two flaws in that. Once a car has been made, someone will own it, however much you tax them for it. Either that or it will be prematurely scrapped, amortising the CO2 costs of building it over a shorter service life.
If you want to discourage the creation of high emission cars, the only person whose decision you need to influence is the person who orders the car from the dealer.
Cars which aren't being used don't emit any CO2, so once a high emission per mile car does exist, you want it to be owned by someone who will do a low mileage in it. They are exactly the kind of owner who is most likely to be put off by a punitively high annual VED cost.
If you want to use tax to discourage the creation of high emission cars, charge a higher purchase tax. If you want to discourage their use, charge more fuel tax. Charging a high ownership tax achieves nothing.
most sensible post of the thread so farIf you want to discourage the creation of high emission cars, the only person whose decision you need to influence is the person who orders the car from the dealer.
Cars which aren't being used don't emit any CO2, so once a high emission per mile car does exist, you want it to be owned by someone who will do a low mileage in it. They are exactly the kind of owner who is most likely to be put off by a punitively high annual VED cost.
If you want to use tax to discourage the creation of high emission cars, charge a higher purchase tax. If you want to discourage their use, charge more fuel tax. Charging a high ownership tax achieves nothing.
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