Monday 19th March 2007

Chancellor to raise taxes

Revenue raising from performance cars

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This Wednesday’s budget from Gordon Brown is expected to contain more bad news for performance car owners. Responding to the current wave of pressure from environmental lobbyists, it’s understood that the Chancellor will drastically increase the road tax charge for vehicles in the ‘G’ band - the highest tax band introduced last April – to at least £400 over the next two years.

Cough up now

The G band is for vehicles bought since April last year that produce over 225g/km of CO2 emissions. Although known as a tax against ‘Chelsea tractor’ SUVs in the popular media, the category also snares most sporting cars from the BMW 335i bracket and above. As an example, a current BMW M3 produces 287g/km, planting it firmly in the top category.

There are also expected to be rises across most of the other tax bands, although for many this will probably be limited to around £15. The very lowest tax bands are expected to receive reductions in charges, with the lowest band remaining free. No cars currently on sale fall into this category.

The Chancellor had been under pressure for far greater rises, with environmentalists campaigning for a road tax charge of £1,000 – or even £2,000 -for vehicles falling into the G band. Could things be about to get even worse?

[TheMarko]

And how much of this increased tax would be redirected to green initiatives? Next to none methinks, I imagine most of it would just be filling their coffers (as usual).

Surely the Government and the all the raging enviro-mentalists have a great opportunity to just push for a dedicated 'carbon reduction' contribution here? Slap enough extra on the cost of road tax (because it's going to rise anyway, face it) to negate the average emissions from a car on whatever tax band two or three times over (based on accepted average yearly mileages).

Will they do it? Severly doubt it, blinkered as they are by over-exuberant tree hugging in the face of exaggerated pollution statistics (as recently highlighted by top scientists in the field), and their obsession with trying to price people off the roads rather than work with them for a common good.

[The Wiz]

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=369094&f=141&h=0