[Santa]

I see suggestions that (once again) the Government is looking at charging motorists by the mile rather than by the fuel they use.

Many people think this discriminates against rural users (although they already pay more fuel tax) and others think it would be too costly to implement.

I assume there would either need to be detectors alongside all roads, or some gadget attached to all cars to tell said government how many miles we drive. It is suggested that the charge could be variable by place, and/or time of day to make it fairer.

I would like opinions from the members here.

[Drivingforfun]

I always assumed the plan would be to implement this alongside fuel duty, rather than to replace it, so it would tax electric cars but then be a double tax on fossil fuel cars, to encourage more people away from them

[Beelzebub]

Since the connection between tax and road building/maintenance was abolished in 1926, there seems to be no logic in restoring it 100 years later.

It would also need a rather ambitious IT system. History tells us that governments are not very good at that: it will be late, vastly expensive, and not fir for purpose. Don't anyone mention "Horizon".

Since roads are used by everyone (almost all your goods arrive by road), and not just by car drivers, it seems fair - and a lot simple and cheaper - just to increase income tax or VAT to cover the expected shortfall. Apart from anything else, our general taxes already subsidise railway and air travel.

[NMNeil]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

I always assumed the plan would be to implement this alongside fuel duty, rather than to replace it, so it would tax electric cars but then be a double tax on fossil fuel cars, to encourage more people away from them

As there is already technology in cars to track just about everything you do remotely. tracking your odometer reading may be the way to go. I know that there is rampant tampering with odometers, but if they did it that way simple 'clocking' would now be elevated to defrauding the inland revenue.