Do you think all low emissions vehicles should pay less road tax?

quite simple. car tax should be based on how many miles and how much pollution a car chucks out a years/every 6 months.

example, my scoob does around 22mpg, and its done 5000 miles in 6 months ive had it. ok ok the greenpeace tree huggers will despise of me for having one of these new found automobile thingys, but why should i pay £105 for 6 months of driving on pot hole infested roads, when you compare it to this.

mr rep does 20000 in 6 months in a 2.5l diesel turbo. ok say 40mpg, but, and its a huge ferb britton round edged buttt!, hes doing loads more miles than me, ths kicking out more smog etc, so should therefore be taxed more than me. thats fair in my eyes.

another situation. a fellow i know has a impreza he uses only for weekends and as a show car. over £200 per year for around the 2000 miles he does. now you get mrs granny doing say 15k miles a year in her 999cc micra that does 6000mpg. she is still gonna spunk more gunk into the air over mr impreza. is that fair. no its not. she should pay more for supposeldy ruining everyones lives by putting smog into the atmosphere. controversial i know, but i have a point.

"The fuel price is stupidly high and we can't protest like the way we did in 2000 so what can we do apart from just write letters to which we don't get a reply too".

Can we really not protest or has Britain gone soft? Maybe it is the fear of the Bliar police state. Where people get shot by police.
The last time the British stood up for themselves was the poll-tax riots. Notice how something WAS done about it.

Ian are u suggesting that u r the idiot.That means people who drive 4x4s are idiots which includes FARMERS,GARAGE OWNERS WHO TOW CARS WITH 4X4S, THEE ROYAL FAMILY ,ETC,ETC.Come on now ian u r going too far.

Never, ever, argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience

Taz, you're suggesting the bombs dropped on Iraq have contributed towards global warming? That's pretty obvious.
But it's not just "heat" - Carbon emissions in particular actually trap the heat around the earth, therefore causing a greenhouse effect.

Imran, I believe you're selfish and have a very irresponsible attitude. People like you don't give a damn about global warming, yet there are already millions dying around the world due to climate fluctuations - such as floods in Bangladesh, as a consequence of rising sea levels.

You are a perfect example that demonstrates the need for government to increase taxes on larger vehicles. I agree with the Liberal Democrat policy of charging £2000 in Vehicle Excise Duty for the most polluting vehicles.

As of Monday 7th May, Super Unleaded is above £1.00p/litre right across the country. Reg Unleaded (95r) stands at 95.07p/litre right across the country.
Diesel stands at 96.39p/litre right across the country.

Petrol has increased faster than diesel, due solely to worldwide demand, even though the price of crude oil has dropped.

In the USA Petrol continues to skyrocket upwards, while diesel drops in price. This is before the "summer season" starts, not a good sign.

The controling factor is "demand for" which can be governed by the motorist, but most don't wish to do so. Catch 22 at work.

I have just got my Range Rover 07 reg. 3.6 Diesel and i love it ... Just Sold my BMW X5 Petrol. ....

I dont care if the road TAX goes up. I will still drive my 4x4.

The fuel price is stupidly high and we can’t protest like the way we did in 2000 so what can we do apart from just write letters to which we don’t get a reply too..

We all need to get together and do somthing ?

I don't think it matters; they are still going to get everyone at the pump.

He is one of the main problems when it comes to polution, if he would only keep his arogant self opiniated mouth shut ther would be a 50% drop in emmisions to start with. They actuly did a top gear program showing 4x4 were not as safe as normal cars, and they were polution monsters on wheels but then he turned round and said he would still have one??? That man has a seriouus attitude problem.

Ian i think jeremy clarkson from top gear could learn hell of a lot from u about on 4x4s.

Sultan and Taz, No my mind has not been poisond by the 4x4 carry on, unlike a lot of people I have a mind of my ownd and can resurch, and colate facts myself. Yes 4x4s have been around for years but untill recantly not everyone used them for a car on normal roads. You dont need a 2,3 or 4 littre off roader to get to the office, or pick the kids up, they are just a fashion accessory, they are no safer than a standard car infact in a lot of casses they are worse in a crash, espeshialy for the other car you hit, and if its a person you hit they have no chance. Apart from using more fuel, they take more resorces and energy to make. They take longer to brake than a car, and are more prone to tipping over. About 10-15 years ago you could get a few 4x4 CARS great, but now they are all SUV's. As I said the only reason for this is fashion. You dont need 4x4 in 99% of normal driving, and defanatly not in SUV form.

It is high time that the road fund licence was done away with and the petrol tax increased to cover that income. This would
a. Prevent RFL being dodged.
b. ALL fuel users would contribute. (i.e. leisure craft, off road users)
c. Reduce admin.
some action would be necessary to enforce the mot i.e a windscreen sticker like RF licence.

Sultan u have hit the nail on the head.

Ian obviously your mind has been poisoned by this 4x4 carry on by the government,mate how long have people been driving these vehicles ,many a year.why suddenly that they think its the 4x4 and cars with big engines,because there are so many of them .Its like hitting the lottery jackpot.To recoupe the money wasted in the illegal wars.

Ian and Mathew what about the illegal bombs that are being used on iraq and afganistan,how much global warming these bombs are creating,never mind the illegal war itself.Mathew bombs create heat not cold, thats what the war on iraq has got to do with global warming.

come on lads you dont need a mondeo or a swift for a wheel chair,why not just tie it on the back of a bike and pull it along.

No wonder you're paying so much for fuel with a 2.0 litre Ford Mondeo, Mr E.A.Carter. I drive a 1.6 petrol and I pay around £50 a week!

Regarding the Iraq war, it has nothing to do with environmental taxes.

Taz driving a 4x4 uses more fuel, thats what its got to do with global warming.

E.A. Carter, why do you need a 2ltr car? Wheel chairs fit into ones with smaler engines you know, My mother in laws fits into the wifes Swift quite nicely, and thats only a 1 ltr,

How about the pensioners who need a a car wich has to carry a wheel chair,
I have a ford Mondao 2ltr, it costs £30.00 per week for petrol how they exspect me to afford a high road fund licene fee,(No I can't get help with my petrol cost they say I am to old)
Yours Truly.
E.A.Carter.

Petrol,diesel,lpg,chip oil or Bio fuels!dosen"t matter.The illegal war in IRAQ is the reason and the only reason for these emmission taxes.what has driving a 4x4 got to do with global warming this government is taking the p... out people like u and me. No weapons of mass destruction , means illegal war,means war crimes for Mr TONY BLIAR this is what the papers,news and the media should be talking about not global warming.wake up UK.

Mr Bliar and Brown,having taken us to an illegal war in Iraq,are trying to recoupe the billions of £s they have wasted,and are continuing to waste. If there was no war there would have been no emmisoin taxes,come on BLAIR,BROWN who u kidding on.

Rascal,

Actually, the violence in Iraq - along with high demand for oil from China, tensions with Iran, US-Venezuela ties and other factors - is keeping oil prices HIGHER than they otherwise would be.

I have always disagreed with the Iraq war, but I certainly don't believe we invaded for oil!
Saddam's Iraq had no proven ties with terrorists either. Thanks to the invasion huge numbers of foreign terrorists have entered Iraq and, along with domestic insurgents loyal to Muqtada al-Sada (the Shia militia leader) and Saddam's Baathist Party, have managed to turn Iraq into the central battle between the US and its allies and al-Qaeda and the extremist Islamist ideology it brings.
We cannot afford to allow Iraq to become a staging ground for terrorists to establish training camps and launch attacks against Arab states, Europe, the US and other nations. It's vital that the Iraqi government succeeds.

As I said, like the Lib Dems, I opposed the war. But unlike them I don't believe we can now afford to withdraw from Iraq without allowing the terrorists to severely challenge the Iraqi government's authority.

As for taxing motorists, I believe the burder should be placed on Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) instead of Fuel Duty. Fuel Duty unfairly hurts the poor whilst the wealthy are still able to afford their huge 4x4s. Where's the moral and environmental justification in that?

This government seriously need to do its research on LPG converted vehicles before it issues the rate at which to tax them. At the moment it works out much cheaper to drive a diesel car which has got to be more damaging to the environment than gas surely.

Well folk's, the cost of producing emissions is about to get a little more expensive. Crude Oil in NW/Europe is around $67.50/Bbl.

Avg Price for Unl/95r across the UK, as of Monday 23th Apl = 93.49p/litre.
The Diesel Avg stands at 95.66p/litre. These prices will increase, mainly because the "Products Market" continues it's roll.

Petrol and Diesel continue to gain ground, Petrol much faster than Diesel.
Petrol closed at 28.35p/litre, and Diesel at 26.46p/litre on Tuesday 24 Apl.
Both are 50 ppm Sulpher Fuels, 10 ppm Fuel is higher. These prices do not include the Additives required.

In some areas, the avg for Super Unleaded is already above the £1.00p/litre mark. So, no matter what you drive, the cost of doing it will continue to rise.

'Unlawful invasion of Iraq' ..... but thats where the oil is and everyone on this site seems to want cheap petrol! We have 7,000 troops keeping it that way! Or did you think it was a hunt for WMD!!

Petrol is a finite fuel that will be replaced by other substances in the future, taxing petrol for Government income will lessen as we move to electric/hybrid/steam/Orange juice etc, taxing cars at source and road usage per mile will be the only form of income for the Government!

sorry I was looking at dater for previouse Corsa.

Believe me or not, I am getting over 40.4mpg. I tend to drive extremely economically.

The Vauxhall Corsa 1.3CDTi emits 124g of CO2 per km. The Corsa 1.7CDTi emits 130g of CO2 per km.

I very much doubt that on the combined cycle (average of urban and extra urban) that the Corsa CDTI emits 119g/km, just as much as I doubt that driving a VW Golf FSI is it possible to achieve more than 40.4 mpg in NORMAL conditions. MPG figures (and therefore associated carbon emissions) are notoriously inaccurate (by up to 20%). MPG figures should include REAL driving conditions rather than unrealistic test figures (for another debate I suspect).

I would hardly call a diferance off 11mpg and 8g/km marginally more economical. think of the diferance that makes over 12 months. Thats why yours is group C and the diesal is group B the price diferance is to encourage people to go for the lower emision car, the increese in the price diferance gives a bit more incentive.

I drive a 1.0litre corsa C petrol. It only emits 127g/km. I'm obviously disgusted at the recent road tax increase on such a clean (Euro 4) vehicle. The marginally more economical 1.3cdti (119g/km) gets a huge road tax decrease despite throwing out more lung damaging particles.

If the government doesn't decrease the tax on my car, I will find undetectable and untaxable ways of increasing my emmissions purely out of spite.

Would you be interested in taking a position up with Vauxhall, Mathew? You seem to have ample knowledge of our brilliant collection of cars.

I am 19 and drive my own gorgeous VW Golf 1.6 FSI! According to the VW statistics I should be getting an average of 40.4mpg over the combined cycle. However, I'm not a boy racer and I tend to drive carefully and economically, therefore I probably get far more than that! :)

My mum has a VW Golf 1.9 GT TDI. My dad is an eco-terrorist with his BMW 525d estate (2.5 litre diesel)! :D

Like Ian said, if you chose to purchase a gas guzzling 4x4 then you have to live with the consequences.

Many green cars are surprisingly cheap. Take a look at the Vauxhall Corsa 1.3 diesel - a car that can reach over 64mpg if I remember correctly. If you need a larger car (i.e. an estate) then you could opt for Vauxhall Astra estate 1.7 diesel - which gets over 55mpg I think.

With the recent advances in diesel engines it's silly to buy petrol cars, in my opinion. For example, the Vauxhall Corsa 1.7 diesel gets 0.1mpg MORE than the Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 petrol - according to the Vauxhall website.

There's no excuse to be buying 4x4 SUVs now. Most rurals areas have adequate access to the road network.

As for the Labour haters - It was John Major's government that first introduced the Fuel Duty Escalator. New Labour have abandoned the Escalator, therefore saving YOU money. The Tories are promising to re-introduce the Fuel Duty Escalator if they gain power - which means an annual increase in fuel duty of 2% above inflation, if I remember correctly!

Stop reading the tabloids and look at the statistics for yourself!

By the way, I don't work or advertise on behalf of Vauxhall! ;)

I always thought it was Road tax not air tax. Supposedly it goes towards fixing the wear and tear to the roads, i presume hence why larger 4 wheel drive vehicles have to pay more now. So why should it be cheaper just because you have a low emission car? It also penalises us who cannot afford to buy a new eco friendly car.

just read about older vehicles still will receive rises. my dad owns a jeep 4X4 paid over 2 thousand pounds because he cares for the inviroment, now i have to tell a 55 year old new pensioner that he spent all that money for no reason at all . common sence and a bit of maths ........he could of got more then four years tax for that car with that money while still poluting the enviroment that we all SHOULD be caring about.
Now, ask the people , should the goverment care about people who really do care about the enviroment and get conversions careless of the year of the vehicle, or care about people who will BUY new / Newer vehicles that are already LPG vehicles , to pay less car Tax.

American's complain just as much as the UK, about fuel prices. There are a huge number of websites, protesting the cost of fuel, and they have a very loud voice.

Each State (our counties) can pass it's own legislation, regarding motoring matters. Hence the different speed limits, and sales tax's.

In the whole of California "Unleaded Petrol" for road use is illegal, it has to be "Reformulated Petrol", this makes their prices the highest in the US. Second highest is New York State, which is slowly changing to Reformulated Fuel.

If the price of Fuel gets too high, States can step in, and do something about it. Florida State, has a habit of granting "Tax Holidays" for motorists on fuel, when this happens. Imagine that.

Prices vary, right across the States, by as much as 20 cents a US gallon, in places. Competition, is far greater in the US, between companies, and the car is king, and politician's are aware of this fact, when people complain.

Car's are treated as "essential", rather than for the "rich and famous" as in the UK. It's a different mind set altogether.

Ok fuel prices are starting to get to high again, I say bring back the blockades and the protests. In the US if prices get to high people storm congress, what happens in the Uk, we all start writing to blogs like this.

Its the same with the German Autoban (sorry carnt spell that) makes our motorways look like dirt tracks, Came back from Irnbridge yesterday along M54/M6 road serface was terrable, the old toll road at the working museams were in better shape.

Richard,

What you are experiencing are low tax rates, and high exchange rates.
Government Tax's on Petrol average 18%, and on Diesel 19.5%. UK's average 69% on Petrol, and 67% on Diesel.

On a litre per litre basis, minus all tax's, and the applicable exchange rate. Petrol in the UK is a little cheaper than the US, but UK Diesel is higher. This gives you an idea of the Tax burden in the UK.

Most State speeding ticket's in the US, carry on the spot fine's. If you don't have the cash, they take Visa. If you don't have either, the car stays were it is. It works just fine, and they have the manpower to enforce it.

Pick-up Truck's are a huge market in the US, the average engine is a 4.2 litre V8, and many have the 4x4 option, but most use 2 wheel drive. Average MPG on the Highway is 28 mpg, in town it drops to 20 mpg. Can you imagine this in the UK, and the running costs.

Their Interstate Road System, makes our Motorway System look mickey mouse at best. But it is a big country, and that's the difference.

I am idly reading this blog here in the USA (whilst visiting my daughter) - local fuel prices are $2.49 - $2.75 per US gallon that's £0.34p - £0.37p per litre approx for petrol and about 5 cents more for diesel. Nobody drives diesel cars, most are automatics, 50% of the vehicles I see are 4x4s or pick up trucks. But prices do go up and down sometimes twice a day - locally gas prices went up 2 cents twice over a week-end (that's because the temperature went from 82F to 34F in one day! )
Driving - 3 lane highways, no restriction on HGVs using the outside lane and NO speed limiters on the Trucks either! they pass you (on either side - that's legal too) at well over the 70 mph speed limit. Accidents? we drove over 1000 miles last week and only saw one - a single car that looked as if it had had a blow out and hit the central safety wire - we pased this at 55mph NO RUBBERNECKERS! - and all this in a country that allows you to turn right at a red light, talk on a mobile phone whilst driving and doesn't have any speed cameras - just lots of State Troopers in marked and unmarked cars (and big hats!!) Everybody seems to drive at the same speed (55-60-65-70 depending on the speed limit - which is badly marked) nobody weaves lane to lane, or sits behind you flashing lights to move over, they stagger the school times so that there is no school rush, BUT EVERY child is taken to school on a yellow bus - even 200yards! and passing a school bus when it is dropping off or collecting passeners is a hanging offence! I should add I am in the South (North Carolina) New York was mad!!

But back to the fuel prices, did anybody notice that the Chancellor LOWERED the tax free fuel amounts from the 28th of Feb by 10% - those of us that are paid to run a company car by mileage - because he said that the average price of fuel had dropped 10% ??? and then a few days later announced an increase in the fuel duty from October of 0.02p (plus VAT of course) I wonder how long it will be before he puts the allowance up again - he certainly didn't when we were paying over £1.00 per litre for diesel, and it looks as if it's going that way again.

Regretfully it's back to the UK on Wednesday - in nice green Boeing 777/300 cattle truck - and the good old M6 on a Friday night! In the meantime I am now going out to drive my hired Nissan (pronounced NEESAN ) gas guzzler whilst I can afford the fuel !!!

Richard Smith

Steven,

Your mpg on LPG seems low, remember the car is 7 yrs old.
It should be closer to 29 mpg with the Vectra, but "dual fuel" cars do get less.

With Diesel at 94.3p/litre, and mpg at 45 for the Vectra.
Even with LPG at 48p/litre, you'd still be ahead in the game.

Supermarket LPG averages 41p/litre.

I own a Vectra Duel Fuel Car. It was built with LPG conversion in 2000. Now, I'm thinking about replacing my car, but with what????? At the moment I see no financal benfit in purshasing another duel fuel car. Where I live in Hampshire the avg price of LPG in the Area is 48p per litre. My tank can hold 40 litres which will do about 220miles = 25mpg. Most modern diesels will do 50mpg. So let me get this right, having a diesel is infact cheaper for me.

The Avg Cost of LPG is around 45p/litre.

Duty/Vat accounts for 11p/litre. Production Costs run at about 28p/litre.
Total 39p/litre.

Prices vary across the UK, you can buy it for 42p/litre on the East Coast, mainly because there are two plants in this area. There are only eight plants in the whole of the UK. Distance from plants, pushes the price up.

LPG in France is 10% higher than the UK.

However, it's still the cheapest way of motoring, and the cleanest at present time from fossil fuels.

Welcome to rip off Britian.

If ever there was proof that the oil industry is out to fleece the consumer for every penny, just look at the price of LPG. this product, at the moment is the only freely available envioromentaly friendly fuel thats easy to use and distribute. Owneres go to all the trouble to convert thier vehicle to run on this product, and what happens the OIL COMPANIES not the Goverment rips them off. WE HAVE the LOWEST duty rates on LPG in Europe only 6.5 pence per litre, but guess what we have the most expensive LPG, no suprise there then...but can anyone explain why they don't do this abroad???

The Fuel Duty Escalator came in, on the back the famous Kyoto Treaty, and falling oil prices in 1994. It was seen as a way to control Co2 emissions, and was based on minimum increases, percentage wise.

The present Government abandoned it in 1999 (3 yrs after coming to power) when Oil prices began to rise, and realised they had no control over them.

Now you have a situation, where the "Green" agenda wants to turn the clock back. New Taxes and Charges will far exceed the escalator charge by far.

An example would be, yesterday Crude Oil in NW/Europe closed @ $69.22/Bbl, a taste of things to come, it's only just begun.

The proposed "Road Charge Scheme" will shock most motorists in the 2008 pilot plans in certain area's. It's all about raising revenue, in the name of Green. Many groups are calling for the return of the "escalator" as a fairer way of doing things. So round and round we go.

And what would it be if the escalator was still in place?

The recent 2p/litre rise in Fuel Duty = 4.14%.

The Government claim inflation = 2.8%.

Same thing, different colour.

I was wondering when someone would remember it was this government that got rid of the duty escalator.

Here we go again, everything's Gordon Brown's fault. Shall we forget the fact that Gordon Brown has scrapped the Fuel Duty Escalator? Both the Tories and the Lib Dems want to re-introduce the Fuel Duty Escalator!

Green taxes, as a percentage of government revenue, has fallen under this Labour government!

The Tories first introduced the Fuel Duty Escalator - they are your enemy, not Labour! The precise reason we have some of the highest fuel prices in the world is because of John Major's government!

Stop reading the right-wing tabloids!

Personally, I think it is abhorant that we should have to pay so much duty on fuel.
They did the same thing many years ago with Diesel fuel, promoting it as it was more environmentally friendly and then looked what happened - they wacked the duty back up after an upsurge in diesal car sales grr..