on the news today (car tax £2000 py)

I do believe that was the Lib Dems. Should up their vote considerably.

Lib dems policy proposal. Farce. Would never happen as they will never get into power, and they know it. If they ever did get into power they would never stick to it.

"The owners of cars which generate the most pollution would face annual road taxes of £2,000 under Liberal Democrat plans to tackle climate change.

The figure - 10 times the current rate - would cover high-end cars such as BMW's 7 series, Bentley Continentals and the four-by-four Porsche Cayenne.

It would apply only to new models, with exemptions for "essential" vehicles."

Presumably the "essential" vehicles would include ministerial limos :-)

As the libdems also have an anti 4x4 policy, no doubt every 4 wheel drive from a 1300cc Daihatsu Terios up would be targetted.

Cheers

Keith

The message from "Keith" contains these words:

They reckoned on the radio this morning that it was only aimed at the highest consumption band and that more frugal 4x4s wouldn't be affected.

My 4.4 litre 7 series does less harm to the environment than many other cars simply 'cos I don't drive it very much. A tax like this will increase the divide between the rich and poor - the rich will just pay the money the poor will drive around in crapboxes.

This is something that's never taken into account by those advocating higher taxes for larger engines. As long as you have enough room to park the things, I've long been of the opinion that it's environmentally sound to own several vehicles each suited to a different purpose. For example, running a gas guzzling Range Rover for occasionally towing a trailer, and a small hatchback for commuting is less polluting than running one middle sized vehicle that does both jobs badly.

Quite right, voices of reason ARE in existence - how come none of them work in the government?

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Exactly. As per currently.

Gordon missed the boat on his changes last time.

Bring the "new" top band (300g/km+) up in cost to about £250ish, and introduce another top band (say, 375+) and set that about £400.

Willy Eckerslyke wrote: || snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk wrote: || ||| My 4.4 litre 7 series does less harm to the environment than many ||| other cars simply 'cos I don't drive it very much. || || This is something that's never taken into account by those advocating || higher taxes for larger engines. As long as you have enough room to || park the things, I've long been of the opinion that it's || environmentally sound to own several vehicles each suited to a || different purpose. For example, running a gas guzzling Range Rover || for occasionally towing a trailer, and a small hatchback for || commuting is less polluting than running one middle sized vehicle || that does both jobs badly.

I couldn't agree more, am self-employed work from home, there's just me and the wife (who doesn't drive).

I use a largish estate vehicle for both business and private use, but have often thought that if I could 'personally' be taxed and insured, instead of the actual vehicle, then maybe I would acquire a smaller more environmentally-friendly runabout for local use.

However I just don't see the point in having to fork out for two seperate lots of tax and insurance when only one vehicle would be on the road at any given time.

Maybe a good reason for switching the road fund licence onto fuel and having a centralised database, purely for vehicle registration, holding similar information to the DVLA.

Perhaps I'm missing some very obvious reason why a system along these lines couldn't work.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Ivan" saying something like:

Money, money, money, money, money, money, money...