The Car tax disc is to be scrapped after 93 years

Its a dumb and complicated system anyway, I never understood why they dint just scrap it and add to the general fuel tax, its pretty much impossible to avoid paying it then, and the more you use it, the more you pay.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Its a dumb and complicated system anyway, I never understood why they dint just scrap it and add to the general fuel tax, its pretty much impossible to avoid paying it then, and the more you use it, the more you pay.

This way the manufacturers can't fiddle their fuel consumption and carbon emissions either to get into a lower tax band.

[rhyds]

Putting it on fuel isn't as easy as it sounds:

1: You'd need to create a "red petrol" (in the same way you have red diesel) for off-road use, as I doubt anyone wants to pay car tax on their generators, lawn mowers, and strimmers.

2: What about electric cars? Yes they're car tax free as it stands, but that can't continue as they gain in popularity. You'd then have to either re-introduce per-car taxing or force all electric car charging points to be separately metered and charged for, including those on house electric supplies.

3: Fuel smuggling (already a very big issue in Northern Ireland) and "cleaned fuel" (where red/green tax free diesel is washed through cat litter to remove the dye) would become much more commonplace . Expect lots more VOSA checkpoints to allow them to physically check fuel tanks for illegal fuel (no ANPR for that), and lots of illegal dumping of very nasty cleaning byproducts.

[Escapee]

I found myself needing to get a little runabout at the end of April, I went and looked at a car advertised privately on a Saturday afternoon and said 'I'll have it'. This was the 30th April, the last day of the month, the seller had it parked off road on his driveway and was keen to do the deal on the spot so he could cancel the tax. I agreed to come back the following day and pick it up as it would enable me to change my car insurance and tax it. The insurance change was dealt with online and was completed in minutes and within a few more minutes I receive my new insurance certificate via email. The next challenge was to tax it with the 12 digit reference on the New Keepers supplement V5C/2. I knew the vehicle was still on the MID and the system wouldn't be intelligent enough to know that it wasn't on their system in my name yet, so I thought it would be a doddle.

I followed the online instructions, vehicle registration, don't have a reminder in my name etc, I have a V5C/2 and 12 digit reference.... all looking good.... enter the details, press the continue button..... A message telling me that it is already being processed.

I went to pick up the car and carried a copy of the insurance certificate and a screenshot of my attempt to tax it that day. When speaking to the seller, he said that he had failed to inform them that he was selling the vehicle because the website only allowed you to do that Monday - Friday between office hours, also Monday was a bank holiday so the only way he could avoid being charged for another months tax was to declare the vehicle off-road and SORN it.

This is probably the reason why I couldn't tax it, as it was waiting to be processed by a little man in the job creation centre located in Swansea.

I wasn't able to tax the vehicle until the afternoon of the 5th May, I had to use the vehicle from the 2nd May. I attempted about a dozen times each day but checking the tax status kept showing it as taxed up until the afternoon of the 5th when the little man finally got around to processing it.

[richard s]

It would be ok if the money collected for road tax gets used for the ruddy pot holes to be filled in.

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Its a dumb and complicated system anyway, I never understood why they dint just scrap it and add to the general fuel tax, its pretty much impossible to avoid paying it then, and the more you use it, the more you pay.

That's what I have been saying for a couple of decades.

[blackthorn]

I`ve just had my reminder but can anyone tell me why paying for 6 months by direct debit is cheaper than paying for 6 months all in one go yet paying for 12 months by direct debit is the same as 12 months in one go.

[CycoSymz]

Originally Posted by richard s

It would be ok if the money collected for road tax gets used for the ruddy pot holes to be filled in.

There is no "Road tax"... It's Vehicle excise duty - a tax on your car. Council Tax is for the upkeep of roads etc.