Another Stealth Tax I've only just begun to notice.....

[James Alexander]

Just looked at my renewal and unless i'm missing something, I have to pay £53.00 extra if I choose to tax my occasional use sports car for six months, rather than the full twelve........just wondering whether I'm the only one that thinks this is beginning to take the p*&s!

[avinalarf]

Welcome to the Brave New World.....lot more of this coming along.
Who else can they tax but the likes of PH'ers ?
Low hanging fruit.....don't you know ?

[shinjuku]

Maybe don't bother paying it at all? In fact, why bother obeying speed limits...?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40862975

[Jon39]

How about tax for 12 months, then claim your pro-rata refund when you don't need to pay.
Presumably, 6 months tax would then cost £267.50.

You sound like me. It is the principal of the thing.

When I pay each year at a village post office, I always say the same thing, "Tell them to spend it wisely." How they laugh!
It is all nonsense though. Less than a couple of thousand miles a year in an Aston Martin, and I am deemed to be the cause of excessive pollution.

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 16th August 19:29

[cuprabob]

There has always been a premium for paying it every 6 months. Actually it has been reduced to bring it in line with paying monthly.

As said, just pay for the year and then SORN after 6 months, that way you don't pay the premium.

The real stealth tax is IPT on all insurance policies that has been rising every budget.

[jonby]

not sure I follow the OP logic

If you tax for 6 months, just go on to monthly and then stop after 6 months. That works out at £560 per year if you annualise the monthly rate, which is just £25 per year more than the only annual rate available of £535.

So yes a bit more, but not much

the £294 per 6 month rate is if you pay in one go, not by DD, which is worse for cash flow and more expensive than the pay monthly option

[Jon39]

Don't forget the tax on a tax. We all pay it.

Who can provide the answer to that one?

[James Alexander]

Its the principle of the matter....

I will probably only use a couple more months after August before I SORN it over winter, but my logic is they are forcing people into paying for the full year, or otherwise your penalised by one form or another.

Millions of us paying £25.00 to £50.00 more per year....money for nothing !

[rovcallum]

I have never understood why they don't just add a bit to the price of fuel.
Use your car more = you buy more fuel, hence you pay more tax, simples, no?

Buy electric car, use no fuel, pay no tax.
Am I missing something?

[Gday2]

Well tax for Astons is cheep compared to Austria, I am paying about € 2.800 a year motor tax for the V8V. That is what I call a rip off.
Please show some compassion

[James Alexander]

Gday2 said:

Well tax for Astons is cheep compared to Austria, I am paying about € 2.800 a year motor tax for the V8V. That is what I call a rip off.
Please show some compassion

Is there an Austrian word for Pothole ? I wouldn't mind paying another bit extra if I thought we were getting value for money here in the UK, but 2800 EUR would force me to buy a Tesla for sure !

[Jon39]

James Alexander said:

Its the principle of the matter....

Millions of us paying £25.00 to £50.00 more per year....money for nothing !

You have just reminded me of the other recent DVLA trick.

Sell your car and you now have to reclaim unused 'road tax', the buyer cannot purchase it from you, they have to buy theirs from DVLA.
The catch is full months only, so for the month during which you sell, the DVLA is now paid twice.

..................................................................

No answers yet to my tax on tax question.

It is when we all buy petrol.

COST OF PRODUCT + FUEL DUTY = sub total.
+ 20% VAT = total paid.

We are therefore paying Value Added Tax on the Fuel Duty Tax.

( Perhaps only true for private individuals, because presumably some can reclaim that VAT. )

You couldn't make it up !

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 16th August 21:18

[Gday2]

@James: the word is Schlagloch. Quite descriptive in a way
Unfortunately tax is nothing where value for money applys, guess this is valid worldwide.
I had a look at the Tesla, I hate it, lousy (American) build quality, calls itself spors car and cannot finish a lap on the Red Bull F1 circuit without getting the battery to hot warning and limp mode. Only the acceleration is worth mentioning. No Power/Beauty/Soul and sound.

[jonby]

James Alexander said:

Its the principle of the matter....

I will probably only use a couple more months after August before I SORN it over winter, but my logic is they are forcing people into paying for the full year, or otherwise your penalised by one form or another.

Millions of us paying £25.00 to £50.00 more per year....money for nothing !

I get the principle, but in your example, it will cost you about a fiver more (c 5%) for 2 months paid on the monthly DD compared to the annual rate divided by 12 and multiplied by 2 months. which is not £53 annualised. It actually doesn't seem unreasonable to me that in return for the admin/logistics of processing you to go on and then off then next year back on to the system, to charge 5% more. Most things in life cost more if paid for monthly or for a shorter period of time, than paying in one go at the start for a longer period. Why should the taxpayer provide free financing to those who don't pay in one go in advance ?

Where I fully agree is that we have a perfectly efficient system with fuel tax. The more miles you drive, the more fuel tax you pay the someone with a similar car who does fewer miles. The less efficient your car, the more fuel tax you pay for the same miles. Annual road tax, like many other taxes, is simply there because they can - attempts to justify it are futile because they don't exist. For me, the least objectionable part of road tax is the small premium if you choose to pay monthly or just for a few months

Plus, once people start changing their buying habits in large numbers to avoid higher rates of whatever the current road tax system is at the time, they change the system to compensate for the loss in revenue - there will be no free road tax for hybrids & EVs as/when/if we all go down that road, because there will be too much of a revenue hole to fill

[M5MarkM]

Also winds me up, essentially they are discounting tax. Tax should be a flat rate and not penalise people who can't afford to pay a full 12 months at once. If we agreed to pay our PAYE tax 12 months in advance would we get a discount?