The Conservatives on Rolling Classic Car Tax
Discussion
I dropped CMD an email last week asking about what their policy would be on reintroducing the rolling classic car tax expemtion. Here's the reply:
Dear Mr Hughes,
I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your email.
Under the previous Conservative administration, we introduced a rolling measure so that historic vehicles would be exempt from paying vehicle excise duty (the tax disc) if they were more than 25 years old. This was designed to help protect the history and heritage our motoring and transport heritage. However, in 1997, the current Labour Government froze the rolling aspect of this exemption; introducing a fixed cut off date instead. This meant that owners of any vehicle constructed after 1 January 1973 would have to pay vehicle excise duty if they were not declared to be off the road (SORN).
We fully understand your concern with this issue. Under the current arrangements there is a real danger that the tax on vehicles registered after 1973 may become too expensive for enthusiasts to afford. This is particularly an issue when an enthusiast has a collection of several vehicles. Many owners may only tax them for a few months in summer or even take them off the road indefinitely. The current system limits the opportunities of seeing these vehicles on the road and the additional costs could prove so burdensome that they threaten jobs in the restoration sector.
We believe that examples of our rich motoring history should be preserved for the enjoyment of future generations to come. As we move further away from the 1973 cut off date, the argument gets stronger and stronger to revise the current system. Unfortunately Labour's debt crisis means we are not in a position to make any promises regarding restoring the rolling VED date. However I will ask my team to look at this problem and see what affordable and practical measures could help.
Yours sincerely,
Nicola Sheldon
It's something I guess!
Dear Mr Hughes,
I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your email.
Under the previous Conservative administration, we introduced a rolling measure so that historic vehicles would be exempt from paying vehicle excise duty (the tax disc) if they were more than 25 years old. This was designed to help protect the history and heritage our motoring and transport heritage. However, in 1997, the current Labour Government froze the rolling aspect of this exemption; introducing a fixed cut off date instead. This meant that owners of any vehicle constructed after 1 January 1973 would have to pay vehicle excise duty if they were not declared to be off the road (SORN).
We fully understand your concern with this issue. Under the current arrangements there is a real danger that the tax on vehicles registered after 1973 may become too expensive for enthusiasts to afford. This is particularly an issue when an enthusiast has a collection of several vehicles. Many owners may only tax them for a few months in summer or even take them off the road indefinitely. The current system limits the opportunities of seeing these vehicles on the road and the additional costs could prove so burdensome that they threaten jobs in the restoration sector.
We believe that examples of our rich motoring history should be preserved for the enjoyment of future generations to come. As we move further away from the 1973 cut off date, the argument gets stronger and stronger to revise the current system. Unfortunately Labour's debt crisis means we are not in a position to make any promises regarding restoring the rolling VED date. However I will ask my team to look at this problem and see what affordable and practical measures could help.
Yours sincerely,
Nicola Sheldon
It's something I guess!
Edited by Benjybh on Tuesday 4th May 18:12
To me that’s a good email to get back, somebody within the conservative party has obviously spent some time thinking about it as well as the time spent responding.
It's a pity that the country is in such a terrible shape financially, or I think the answer may well have been yes, as it’s a very easy win for the conservatives for a relatively small outlay
It's a pity that the country is in such a terrible shape financially, or I think the answer may well have been yes, as it’s a very easy win for the conservatives for a relatively small outlay
Benjybh said:
I dropped CMD an email last week asking about what their policy would be on reintroducing the rolling classic car tax expemtion. Here's the reply:
Dear Mr Hughes,
I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your email.
Under the previous Conservative administration, we introduced a rolling measure so that historic vehicles would be exempt from paying vehicle excise duty (the tax disc) if they were more than 25 years old. This was designed to help protect the history and heritage our motoring and transport heritage. However, in 1997, the current Labour Government froze the rolling aspect of this exemption; introducing a fixed cut off date instead. This meant that owners of any vehicle constructed after 1 January 1973 would have to pay vehicle excise duty if they were not declared to be off the road (SORN).
We fully understand your concern with this issue. Under the current arrangements there is a real danger that the tax on vehicles registered after 1973 may become too expensive for enthusiasts to afford. This is particularly an issue when an enthusiast has a collection of several vehicles. Many owners may only tax them for a few months in summer or even take them off the road indefinitely. The current system limits the opportunities of seeing these vehicles on the road and the additional costs could prove so burdensome that they threaten jobs in the restoration sector.
We believe that examples of our rich motoring history should be preserved for the enjoyment of future generations to come. As we move further away from the 1973 cut off date, the argument gets stronger and stronger to revise the current system.Unfortunately Labour's debt crisis means we are not in a position to make any promises regarding restoring the rolling VED date. However I will ask my team to look at this problem and see what affordable and practical measures could help.
Yours sincerely,
Nicola Sheldon
It's something I guess!
Sorry to pour cold water on this, but the highlighted bits suggest to me that you got a:Dear Mr Hughes,
I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your email.
Under the previous Conservative administration, we introduced a rolling measure so that historic vehicles would be exempt from paying vehicle excise duty (the tax disc) if they were more than 25 years old. This was designed to help protect the history and heritage our motoring and transport heritage. However, in 1997, the current Labour Government froze the rolling aspect of this exemption; introducing a fixed cut off date instead. This meant that owners of any vehicle constructed after 1 January 1973 would have to pay vehicle excise duty if they were not declared to be off the road (SORN).
We fully understand your concern with this issue. Under the current arrangements there is a real danger that the tax on vehicles registered after 1973 may become too expensive for enthusiasts to afford. This is particularly an issue when an enthusiast has a collection of several vehicles. Many owners may only tax them for a few months in summer or even take them off the road indefinitely. The current system limits the opportunities of seeing these vehicles on the road and the additional costs could prove so burdensome that they threaten jobs in the restoration sector.
We believe that examples of our rich motoring history should be preserved for the enjoyment of future generations to come. As we move further away from the 1973 cut off date, the argument gets stronger and stronger to revise the current system.Unfortunately Labour's debt crisis means we are not in a position to make any promises regarding restoring the rolling VED date. However I will ask my team to look at this problem and see what affordable and practical measures could help.
Yours sincerely,
Nicola Sheldon
It's something I guess!
Edited by Benjybh on Tuesday 4th May 18:12
"Dear Sir
f
k offYours faithfully"
Trommel said:
rs1952 said:
Sorry to pour cold water on this, but the highlighted bits suggest to me that you got a:
"Dear Sir
fk off
Yours faithfully"
Send the same email to Liebour or the Lib Dems and see what you get back. "Dear Sir
f
k offYours faithfully"
What you also need to remember is the reason for introducing a nil VED in the first place.
The Tories proposed a system of continuous licencing - if you have a car, then you had to keep it taxed at all times.
This upset a lot of people, mainly clasic car enthusiasts whose cars might be off the road undergoing restortaion for many years, or at least only in use during the summer months. In order to makie its continuous licencing proposals more palatable, the Tories introduced this exemption from actually paying any VED (but still having to licence it) for cars over 25 years old.
It was never intended as a concession to older car owners, it was introduced to get the government out of a hole they had dug for themselves.
Then somebody invented SORN. This completely removed the need for nil VED because all you had to do was to declare the car was not being used. Nil VED was then withdrawn, but those (few) cars that had managed to acquire their tax-exempt status (ie built prior to 1 January 1973) were allowed to keep it.
To be honest, you haven't got a cat in hell's chance of this being changed now, so building your hopes up that the Tories will do antything about it is a bit of a pointless exercise.
The Tories proposed a system of continuous licencing - if you have a car, then you had to keep it taxed at all times.
This upset a lot of people, mainly clasic car enthusiasts whose cars might be off the road undergoing restortaion for many years, or at least only in use during the summer months. In order to makie its continuous licencing proposals more palatable, the Tories introduced this exemption from actually paying any VED (but still having to licence it) for cars over 25 years old.
It was never intended as a concession to older car owners, it was introduced to get the government out of a hole they had dug for themselves.
Then somebody invented SORN. This completely removed the need for nil VED because all you had to do was to declare the car was not being used. Nil VED was then withdrawn, but those (few) cars that had managed to acquire their tax-exempt status (ie built prior to 1 January 1973) were allowed to keep it.
To be honest, you haven't got a cat in hell's chance of this being changed now, so building your hopes up that the Tories will do antything about it is a bit of a pointless exercise.
I remember restoring an MGB with a friend which was built in 1974, at the time my cortina was also a 1974 model and we were looking forward to our free tax disks as we ran them as our dailies. Naturally when the news hit that cars built after 1st Jan 1973 would be subject to tax like everything else the value of those cars was reduced slightly and we were not best pleased. I would certainly like to get free tax on my Land Rover - there's another £200 quid I can put towards fuel but I'm not holding my breath.
Excuses made about the economy aside there is no way that they will go back on the current rule now, that letter is a superbly worded tool to gain your vote and not even the vaguest of promises were given.
I am not saying that they do not sympathize with classic enthusiasts but they wont be siding with us. We should probably count ourselves lucky that there are any cars that can be taxed for free - or even modern ones for £35. They could have scrapped the whole deal back in '97 and expect you to pay up like everyone else, there is some debate that if you can afford to have a car for a hobby then you should be able to find £200 a year to tax it or lose the hobby.
Excuses made about the economy aside there is no way that they will go back on the current rule now, that letter is a superbly worded tool to gain your vote and not even the vaguest of promises were given.
I am not saying that they do not sympathize with classic enthusiasts but they wont be siding with us. We should probably count ourselves lucky that there are any cars that can be taxed for free - or even modern ones for £35. They could have scrapped the whole deal back in '97 and expect you to pay up like everyone else, there is some debate that if you can afford to have a car for a hobby then you should be able to find £200 a year to tax it or lose the hobby.
RV8 said:
I remember restoring an MGB with a friend which was built in 1974, at the time my cortina was also a 1974 model and we were looking forward to our free tax disks as we ran them as our dailies. Naturally when the news hit that cars built after 1st Jan 1973 would be subject to tax like everything else the value of those cars was reduced slightly and we were not best pleased. I would certainly like to get free tax on my Land Rover - there's another £200 quid I can put towards fuel but I'm not holding my breath.
Excuses made about the economy aside there is no way that they will go back on the current rule now, that letter is a superbly worded tool to gain your vote and not even the vaguest of promises were given.
I am not saying that they do not sympathize with classic enthusiasts but they wont be siding with us. We should probably count ourselves lucky that there are any cars that can be taxed for free - or even modern ones for £35. They could have scrapped the whole deal back in '97 and expect you to pay up like everyone else, there is some debate that if you can afford to have a car for a hobby then you should be able to find £200 a year to tax it or lose the hobby.
I was in a similar position. At the time I was driving a 1973 Rover P5B (OK with a 1991 Perkins diesel engine in it and a 5-speed manual box from a Rover SD1, but that's another matter!)Excuses made about the economy aside there is no way that they will go back on the current rule now, that letter is a superbly worded tool to gain your vote and not even the vaguest of promises were given.
I am not saying that they do not sympathize with classic enthusiasts but they wont be siding with us. We should probably count ourselves lucky that there are any cars that can be taxed for free - or even modern ones for £35. They could have scrapped the whole deal back in '97 and expect you to pay up like everyone else, there is some debate that if you can afford to have a car for a hobby then you should be able to find £200 a year to tax it or lose the hobby.
Then we found out that the important date was that of construction, not of first registration. As mine was first registered on 8th March 1973 I, like many others, took the necessary steps to find out when the car was actually constructed.
In my case it was 21st January 1973. Three weeks too late
This was 'on the agenda' over 18 months ago...
http://www.v8register.net/subpages/VEDtaxexemptsta...
You would have thought a decision would have been made by now!
http://www.v8register.net/subpages/VEDtaxexemptsta...
You would have thought a decision would have been made by now!
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