GOLDMAN 555

I notice there is a lot of talk about taxing 4x4 cars shortly.

Will this be based on the fact that it is a Chelsea tractor or the fact that the vehicle has high emissions??

I might as well buy a 6L Hummer if they're going to tax the best car in the world..............

Press clipping below:

Brown to raise duty on 4x4s and air travel


Air travellers and owners of gas-guzzling cars, like the drivers of widely demonised four-wheel drive vehicles, face a substantial increase in taxes as part of Gordon Brown’s pre-Budget report.
The chancellor, anxious to steal a march on David Cameron’s Conservatives on the environment, is preparing to increase the top rate of vehicle excise duty for the most polluting new cars.

A rise in air passenger duty is also expected to be announced in the wake of the Stern report on climate change, which called for urgent action to tackle global warming. The duty currently ranges from £5 for the shortest flights up to £40 for long-haul premium fares.
Mr Brown is said by Whitehall insiders to believe that targeted increases in indirect taxation, designed to penalise some of the biggest sources of carbon dioxide emissions, could have a part to play in persuading motorists to choose less polluting cars.
He has also come round to the view that higher air passenger duty, which was frozen in this year’s Budget, could improve environmental performance in aviation. However, the chancellor is to tread carefully on the broader issue of “green” taxes, and is understood to be opposed to a bigger package of increases that could have raised billions of pounds for the Exchequer.
A reintroduction of the fuel-duty “escalator”, which put up the duty on petrol by 6 per cent over inflation until Mr Brown ordered a freeze in 1999, is unlikely, in spite of a recent fall in international oil prices.
Instead, the chancellor will use the pre-Budget report to voice strong support for an international market in carbon trading to cut emissions. Building on Sir Nicholas Stern’s findings, he is expected to back moves to link the European Union’s fledgling trading scheme with those being developed in north-eastern US states and California.
Details of his plan were revealed to the Financial Times as it emerged Gunter Verheugen, the EU’s industry commissioner, while backing an extension of emissions trading to cars and airlines, has warned José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, against moving faster than the rest of the world to tackle climate change.
He argued in a letter that “our environmental leadership” could undermine the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries.
In Britain, the debate over green taxes intensified last month with the leaking of a memo from David Miliband, environment secretary, setting out a number of proposals, including unfreezing the escalator. But a senior Whitehall insider said the Treasury was wary about raising environmental taxes as a proportion of gross domestic product.
Nevertheless, Mr Brown will be courting controversy, with airlines and supporters of 4x4s, who have also been threatened with an increased £25 a day charge to drive through central London under proposals from Ken Livingstone, the city’s mayor. In March, the chancellor introduced a new, higher band of vehicle excise duty, set at £210, for new cars that emitted more than 225 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre. He reduced the duty payable on greener cars and froze other bands.
Critics say the extra band, a further £20, has not done enough to differentiate between vehicles and failed to dissuade people from buying the most polluting cars. The Miliband memo proposed a trebling in the top band from £210 to £630.

Sauron

Stern is not a scientist specialising in global warming he's an economist.
So what makes him qualified to comment?
The only thing he can advise on is how to screw more money out of Joe Public.

See Nicholas Stern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Scooby-Doo

All taxes will be based on emissions so in short YES the Subaru is fubbered.

Sauron

Do you thik our Lords & masters are worried about us plebs?
Which do you think ministers will choose?
Ministers choose between Jags and eco-friendly cars
That's a tough one
As long as they can get as much out of the taxpayer in the way of free junkets etc while they're in power they don't give a t@ss about the general public.
How many ministers in Gov are also company directors or have connections with business.
They should be made to manage on their salary & not insignificant expenses.
Oh by the way I work for the S@ds.
I just had a wonderful idea. Canecel the Olympics and save around £15 billion, current estimated costs.
How will they recover that, tourism er nope. You got it even taxes.

Leslie

If they move-yes!

Les

hades

Brown will be taxing everything, not just Subarus. Put it down to huge national debt due to extreme mismanagement of the economy meaning we have to make up the shortfall by screwing the general public (note I mean national debt, not personal debt as someone misinterpreted on another thread). Brought to you by the self proclaimed "most successful chancellor of all time"

scoobynutta555

Yes. After all we're responsible for less than 2% of world pollution and we must tax to the eyeballs everything that moves and pollutes! Another tax under the guise of a geen crusade

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

The whole prospect of these punitively high road tax rates on new cars is actually stopping me buying a newer Impreza, at the moment I have a mildly tweaked MY99 in which I do maybe 6K miles a year, due to the age of the car I presume that since there are no "official" emissions figures I will continue to pay the £175 per year road tax.

Now under these proposals I would presumably have to pay £630 per year road tax on a new STi and this is irrespective of mileage covered so for my say 6.3K miles per year I will have to pay 10p per mile in "green related taxes", someone who does double the mileage will only pay half as much per mile, does this mean that by doing less mileage I am somehow deserving of being taxed more, it's almost an incentive to drive (and pollute) more to get the best "value" from the annual tax.

If we must have "green" taxes then they should be based on usage rather than potential for causing pollution, to my mind this means further tax on petrol - and a flat car tax rate for all vehicles (preferably zero) After all one gallon of petrol is going to create the same amount oF CO2 whether used in a Prius or a Hummer.

hades

That would make perfect sense if the whole point of the tax was to minimise pollution. However, if the government want to ensure that there is a constant income stream that people can't dodge just by "being greener", and if they want to be able to annually check insurance/MOT etc without resorting to efficient things like checking a computer database, you can see why it's vital we keep tax disks but put the price up.

hades

P S look on the bright side. These taxes acting as they are will help keep the value of older performance / high emmissions cars up (e.g. older scoobs etc), as they cost a lot less to run than brand new equivalents . . . .

CHRIS_D

This 'green tax' is another bloody Labour scam to get more money from the working class britons. It won't affect the chavs as they either get it subsidised through benefits or just don't pay at all and i very much doubt it will bother or effect the rich.

I used to own a scoob, i now own a 4x4, a 2.8ltr mitsi pajero to be precise. I changed to a Pajero because i have a family of 5 (inc 3 young children). not only does my 4x4 have 7 seats and oodles of room for all the crap associated with having kids but i feel 'uber' safe in it. I usually walk or ride my bike to work and as my wife doesn't drive, its not used for school runs. I use it for social and domestic only, which probably means i clock up about 6-8k a year max.

Now bare in mind it's emits high emmisions so i will be taxed heavily for it (£210 now and possibly soon to be £630 as quoted earlier) - how is this fair when say someone driving a supposedly eco friendly car (ie a 1.4 fiesta or the like) is clocking up 100k + a year

So, Mr Chancellor, who is polluting more?

If you're gonna tax, tax the pumps, not the cars

GOLDMAN 555

But how will they gauge the the TAX I have heard the TAX will be heavy...

Which cars are worse than scooby Sti for MPG?? not many....

I fooooking ate Labore

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Here in Germany my road tax is based on the emmisions of my car and I pay €148 a year, which is around 90 quid.

DCI Gene Hunt

There should be a rule that as 'Chancellor' you can only 'tax' a car you can get your feckin fat Scottish **** into

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Scoobs left rotting by the roadside cos they are too expensive to run, it will happen if this comes about, if older one break they won't be worth repairing.

Not very green is it, taxing perfectly serviceable vehicles off the road, vehicles that have caused an environmental impact by being built in the first place so it seems a shame to waste them without allowing them to be run to logical end of life.

If they are going to pursue this they need to graduate it over several years and give the public time to wear these vehicle out and then make informed choices next time, not a knee jerk massive tax.

I think they should tax air travel more, bigger polluters and for most it isnt as essential as running a car, it is ridiculous being able to buy a flight for 2 quid, great for the traveller but unsustainable.

DCI Gene Hunt

Why tax anything? seriously, think about it....... was does that tax go to? straight in GB's pocket that's where......

Its a feckin joke as its designed to put us (the nations sheep) off paying high prices for travel etc. but we all know we'll still pay the cost, albeit begrudgingly!

Gordon Brown "you fat wa*ker", if you want to REALLY make a difference how about tax BREAKS for environmentally friendly travel? rather than piling extra tax on EVERYTHING that farts or moves

Hanslow

It's a great way of creating a class divide don't you think? The rich don't care, they'll just pay what's thrown in their way, whereas the middle and low income earners have to adapt and get priced either off the roads or having their decisions restricted on what vehicle they purchase.

Isn't forcing this upon the public against human rights?

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

But this is part of my point - at the moment I don't think that pre 2001 cars have official emissions figures so unless this changes they will all have to have the same road tax Fiesta or Ferrari, it could actually make older cars cheaper to run in terms of green taxes when in general they probably actually pollute more - sensible eh.

P.S. I'm not complaining about this particular facet, my Scoob is pre 2001 anyway and it looks like I will not be upgrading......

Scooby-Doo

I don't care. The sooner the poor get taxed off the road the better Less traffic for us X5 drivers

DCI Gene Hunt

Thats better

Hanslow

I don't mind either, I just thought Labour were supposed to be for the (poor) people.....