Today's Gripe: Road Tax

[Mark Sreeves]

Please can someone tell me why it costs me £180 to tax my car for a year but it only costs £280 to tax a 38 tonne 6 axle articulated lorry?

You've guessed it! I received a road tax reminder in the post the other day

[V(ery) Basic]

It is based on how long the word is.

'lorry' is only 2 characters longer than 'car'. Just try not to call it an 'articulated lorry'. That could get you into financial difficulties.

[chrisjk]

It is ****ing absurd. What with road tax, petrol etc keeping a car is the most expensive thing (aside paying a mortgage) Bastards. And annual services cost a bomb, MOT after 3 years costs loads.

They know damn well that putting up petrol/road tax makrs NO difference to how often you use your car. They say "oh yeah, it helps the environment to keep prices high" which is the most bollocks thinkg I have ever heard. It's an easy buck and they ****ing know it. ****s.

[Mark Sreeves]

Hmm... looks like I hit a raw nerve there Chris!

Another thing that I fail to see the logic in is having vehicles over 25 years old to be exempt from paying road tax. Why?

This just encourages people to keep those old polluting VW Beetles and Campervans on the road which would othewise have been scrapped long ago!

You're dead right about the powers that be claiming to want to "help the environment". Diesel engines can run on rape seed oil and sunflower oil. If they really wanted to help the environment they would persuade famers to grow sunflowers etc as a fuel source instead of paying farmers NOT to grow crops.

Why don't they? Because they wouldn't be able to justify taxing it then that's why.

[simonm]

If they taxed road transport to pay for cheap, reliable public services then it wouldn't seem so bad.

The problem is, escpecially where I am in the south west, it is so rural that bus services may run as little as twice a week in some places. You can't do without a car then.

[alex_read]

I enjoy paying road tax and giving goverment well needed money to fund excellent projects like the millenum eye or dome, I say, don't just keep it up, charge us more !

[Arbiter]

Don't get me started.

[alex_read]

I don't know what you are talking about.
Long live the government, and may they continue making these superb increases.

[Behemoth]

not even in jest....

[HarryW]

Dome is 5u><0r.

[lord_dude]

If the reason for fuel and road tax to be so expensive is to put people off using cars then surely the billions of £ they r making from us should go towards public transport. Or into encouraging car manufacturers to develop real cars that are environmentally frendly, not milk floats disgusised aas cars. I dont even live in a rural area, im in a town and the public transport is still rubbish. The buses stop completly at about 5:30 and even when they are running they are always either late or they come early but dont wait till when they r supposed to b there so u miss them even when ur on time!

[alex_read]

That's right, so they just need more money thats all. More taxes !

[chrisjk]

Originally posted by Mark Sreeves
Hmm... looks like I hit a raw nerve there Chris.

Not so much a raw nerve as an entire nervous system!! For all the reasons already mentioned!