Why does 2x6 months car tax cost more than 12 months?
Discussion
I was having a think about this tonight after taxing my summer toy the other week and I started to think about why should the 6 month road tax be more expensive pro rata than buying 12 months.
I understand why businesses charge less for "bulk buying", but why should the Government when it come to VED?
Surely the "administration charges" or what ever such nonsense they use as an excuse, is just that. An excuse?
So if people are having a lean month and are a bit skint or like me only use a particular vehicle for a certain period of the year, they are being punished for this. Doesn't seem right from a supposedly Socialist Government.
Load of old tosh really and as per usual it's us motorists who have to fork out money for not a lot.
Not a rant as such, more confusion as to how we keep allowing ourselves to be bent over and screwed on such a regular basis.
I understand why businesses charge less for "bulk buying", but why should the Government when it come to VED?
Surely the "administration charges" or what ever such nonsense they use as an excuse, is just that. An excuse?
So if people are having a lean month and are a bit skint or like me only use a particular vehicle for a certain period of the year, they are being punished for this. Doesn't seem right from a supposedly Socialist Government.
Load of old tosh really and as per usual it's us motorists who have to fork out money for not a lot.
Not a rant as such, more confusion as to how we keep allowing ourselves to be bent over and screwed on such a regular basis.
If you think about it, it's twice the paperwork for them. Not only is it going to cost them a little more but they're gonna want to discourage it to save themselves the hassle.
There's already stupid amounts of beaurocracy and red tape involved in everything, they're trying to discourage additional time and expense.
There's already stupid amounts of beaurocracy and red tape involved in everything, they're trying to discourage additional time and expense.
It might be more hassle for them, but so what? Tax is tax. We aren't talking about a commercial organisation here, but a Government department.
If you get paid weekly are you on a different tax code to someone who gets paid on a monthly basis? No you aren't.
Can you honestly say that a piece of paper, an automatically updated computer record and an envelope costs £20? Does a person actually look at it, thereby justifying the extra cost in someones time? Of course not.
If they worked on this principle, then why aren't you charged for SORN? Or for changing your address on a V5? All of that costs them time, money and effort. Or have I just given those robbing gits an idea............Damn!
However, I do like this idea of buying a years worth and then reclaiming the other 6 months back. I hadn't thought of that! I'll bet bureaucracy-wise that costs them far more whilst costing you naff all extra. Good plan. I'll do that next year.
If you get paid weekly are you on a different tax code to someone who gets paid on a monthly basis? No you aren't.
Can you honestly say that a piece of paper, an automatically updated computer record and an envelope costs £20? Does a person actually look at it, thereby justifying the extra cost in someones time? Of course not.
If they worked on this principle, then why aren't you charged for SORN? Or for changing your address on a V5? All of that costs them time, money and effort. Or have I just given those robbing gits an idea............Damn!
However, I do like this idea of buying a years worth and then reclaiming the other 6 months back. I hadn't thought of that! I'll bet bureaucracy-wise that costs them far more whilst costing you naff all extra. Good plan. I'll do that next year.
IforB said:
It might be more hassle for them, but so what? Tax is tax. We aren't talking about a commercial organisation here, but a Government department.
If you get paid weekly are you on a different tax code to someone who gets paid on a monthly basis? No you aren't.
Can you honestly say that a piece of paper, an automatically updated computer record and an envelope costs £20? Does a person actually look at it, thereby justifying the extra cost in someones time? Of course not.
If they worked on this principle, then why aren't you charged for SORN? Or for changing your address on a V5? All of that costs them time, money and effort. Or have I just given those robbing gits an idea............Damn!
However, I do like this idea of buying a years worth and then reclaiming the other 6 months back. I hadn't thought of that! I'll bet bureaucracy-wise that costs them far more whilst costing you naff all extra. Good plan. I'll do that next year.
Just because a transaction is done by a computer doesn't make it free. If you get paid weekly are you on a different tax code to someone who gets paid on a monthly basis? No you aren't.
Can you honestly say that a piece of paper, an automatically updated computer record and an envelope costs £20? Does a person actually look at it, thereby justifying the extra cost in someones time? Of course not.
If they worked on this principle, then why aren't you charged for SORN? Or for changing your address on a V5? All of that costs them time, money and effort. Or have I just given those robbing gits an idea............Damn!
However, I do like this idea of buying a years worth and then reclaiming the other 6 months back. I hadn't thought of that! I'll bet bureaucracy-wise that costs them far more whilst costing you naff all extra. Good plan. I'll do that next year.
If everybody did their car tax 6 monthly rather than 12 monthly you'd need a computer system twice as powerful to handle the transactions. It's not just the processing power but the infrastructure around it will also need to be twice as fast. Including the system to print the disks.
Then you have the people who didn't do it online. You have to have someone type in that information, check the form for errors etc. And then have people to handle the complaints because they cant understand why their form is wrong. So thats more people and complexity.
Ideally everybody would pay it every 12 months online. Wouldn't make it cheaper but we'd end up with more money for the Gov to spend.
I do understand that, my point being though, that tax is tax and however it is collected is irrelevant. Do you get a discount if you give all your income tax to the Government in one lump or in 12 installments? Do you get a discount if your company pays its VAT in one lump?
Do you hell, so why should road tax be any different?
We aren't talking about about a commercial company here, but a Government department that we are already paying for with our other taxes.
Do you hell, so why should road tax be any different?
We aren't talking about about a commercial company here, but a Government department that we are already paying for with our other taxes.
IforB said:
We aren't talking about about a commercial company here, but a Government department that we are already paying for with our other taxes.
You have answered your own question there. Government decisions are not puerly financial (even when it comes to financial matters). Someone with their brain in financial gear decided 6 monthly car tax costs more to administer. People with their "I want the mouth breathing masses to re-elect me, and damn the expense" gear engaged have left the income tax situation well alone.I agree with you, but another reason is any business ( yes I know there not a business but they will need that money to do something with still) would prefer to have as much working capital up front as possible.
If you give them £200 or whatever up front for a years tax, that's £200 they have NOW to do want they want with, invest, whatever, if everyone did 6 months then they wouldn't have as much money available at any one time, hence the charge. I suspect the advatage to them of everyone paying for 12 months would outweigh everyone paying for 6 plus the extra charge.
If you give them £200 or whatever up front for a years tax, that's £200 they have NOW to do want they want with, invest, whatever, if everyone did 6 months then they wouldn't have as much money available at any one time, hence the charge. I suspect the advatage to them of everyone paying for 12 months would outweigh everyone paying for 6 plus the extra charge.
t in government to read this and think'oh we could do the same with the community charge,we will charge the suckers more for paying in installments'.IforB said:
It might be more hassle for them, but so what? Tax is tax. We aren't talking about a commercial organisation here, but a Government department.
Everything you need was answered:R11ysf said:
Twice as many Tax discs.
Twice as many envelopes.
Twice the postage costs.
Twice the hassle.
Oh and they get the interest on your money for an additional 6 months.
Not that difficult really.
Twice as many envelopes.
Twice the postage costs.
Twice the hassle.
Oh and they get the interest on your money for an additional 6 months.
Not that difficult really.
Edited by Fruitcake on Wednesday 1st July 13:15
Ponk said:
What i'd like to know is why the DVLA enter you into a raffle to win a Seat for taxing your car? Why are the trying to give an incentive to taxing your car, Is it not a legal requirement?
You only go in the draw if you do it online. It's an incentive to do it online rather than in the post office or dvla office.HTH.
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