UK levy could be in place for specific roads

An official of the Treasury spoke with a senior at the Policy Exchange, during which time they discussed the possibility of the Government placing prices for some road usage across the UK, which in turn would raise revenue. Which is in talks of being introduced in an effort to compensate for the loss of fuel duty once diesel/petrol cars are put off-road.

Researchers have suggested that the Treasury income from fuel duty could be reduced by as much as £170 billion by 2030 unless electric vehicles lead to the introduction of a new duty or some form of revenue increasing alternative were to be introduced.

The report comes from Autocar, which claims that the government will be researching means to make up for the lost revenue.

One of the methods includes: “investigating the potential impact of compositional changes in the vehicle stock and its implications for trends in fuel efficiency.” The other plan would be to add costs for motorists who would wish to use some of the busier UK roads.
Currently, drivers fuel duty is the largest tax linked to motors, said to be an esitimated 44% of costs at fuel pumps.

However, following the government’s plans to ban petrol and diesel cars by 2030, this would mean profit chaos for fuel providers and the government. This has also involved putting in plans to combat the use of vehicles with high emissions, in an effort to improve the environment.

A prediction by LMC states that by 2025 one in 5 vehicles sold in Europe will run purely from electricity. This is expected to be a rapid increase due to changing laws and regulations on an international scale.

If this is the case, fuel duty will cease to be, causing chaos for members of the Treasury.  President of the AA. Edmund King spoke with Autocar: “It’s almost as if no one is addressing the issue. We know that duty is going to disappear, but no one is facing up to it.”

Do you think this is fair on drivers? Let us know in the comments!

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