Scrap motor tax and tax fuel

REARVIEW:NEARLY ONE-THIRD of all new cars registered in 2010 so far were categorised in Band A compared to just 10 per cent in 2009, according to recent data. Band A cars are those with CO2 emissions of 120g/km or less and have annual car tax of only €104. The kind of car your granny drives.

Of course this is no surprise, since the purchase of smaller and more fuel-efficient cars is encouraged both under the new motor tax regime introduced in July 2008 and under the car scrappage scheme, where a consumer can scrap their old car and buy a new car in bands A or B. So, you might ask, what’s the problem?

The 2008 motor tax system, while representing a welcome move from the old tax regime, where the cost was based on the size of the engine (which was about as arbitrary as a window tax) it is still patently unfair.

Firstly, those who made the environmentally-friendly choice before 2008 still pay the old motor tax prices. So my pre-2008 diesel is penalised in car tax terms because of the size of the necessarily large diesel engine. Secondly, the system flies in the face of freedom of choice – if I want to import a secondhand hummer from Iraq and pretend to be GI Joe once a year, I should be free to do so. Not until I drive is it making one jot of difference to the environment. Then, and only then, should tax be imposed.

The only fair way to impose tax on motoring is to impose it on fuel only. Scrap VRT. Scrap motor tax and put all the taxes on fuel at the pump. That way, the more you drive the more you pay – like a bin tag for driving. If I want to spend my hard earned on a Ford Mustang to drive once a month and take the train the rest of the time, I wont be unfairly taxed for the 30 days it sits in the garage. If I buy a Vectra and put 100,000 miles a year on it, then I rightly pay the higher tax bill.