Bring back the tax disc!

[BigRuss]

I see there's now growing concern that Road tax avoidance is now 3 times what it was when tax discs were used.

Yet another ill thought out scheme where saving £7m per year is now costing an estimate of over £97m in lost revenue in comparison to £32m in 2013 when tax discs were in use.

Russ

[oswestryalex]

It is interesting - I do like the ability to pay road tax by direct debit monthly, but don't like the new way you can double pay tax when buying a car from someone else - they lose a month and, in effect, so do you. I have indeed decided to keep the newest addition off the road until December and start taxing then. How much are DVLA making from this double payment for a month? Pros and cons - but tax discs were also nice things in and of themselves.... Here's a better idea: put an extra 5p a litre on fuel and scrap a road tax altogether. The more miles you use the roads, the more you pay. That is fairer.

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by oswestryalex

It is interesting - I do like the ability to pay road tax by direct debit monthly, but don't like the new way you can double pay tax when buying a car from someone else - they lose a month and, in effect, so do you. I have indeed decided to keep the newest addition off the road until December and start taxing then. How much are DVLA making from this double payment for a month? Pros and cons - but tax discs were also nice things in and of themselves.... Here's a better idea: put an extra 5p a litre on fuel and scrap a road tax altogether. The more miles you use the roads, the more you pay. That is fairer.

That is exactly my thoughts, you pay for the use of your vehicle, depending on the mileage you do

The bloke next door does around 70,000 a year as a salesman, and pays no road tax, yet if I want to do 2 miles in my MGF, then it costs me £160

Stu

[jackatesme]

Originally Posted by BigRuss

I see there's now growing concern that Road tax avoidance is now 3 times what it was when tax discs were used.

Yet another ill thought out scheme where saving £7m per year is now costing an estimate of over £97m in lost revenue in comparison to £32m in 2013 when tax discs were in use.

Russ

While agreeing with you i think a lot more people should do what i do. Check every suspicious car they see on gov. check tax. Near my house there is a house with many visitors,50% not taxed. I report each one. At the moment there is a car on sorn been there for 2 days. Been reported. A few weeks ago there was a car parked on yellow lines and bus stop area on the main road outside of the house for 3 days with police driving pass and taking no action. So we can't rely on them,so the more public action the better.

[steve-45]

Had a van parked in my road with no road tax, I reported it many times on the DVLA website - 3 months later it was still there with no visable action taken.

[bendrick]

I've always thought that the solution to policing road tax was quite simple.


Reintroduce the tax disc and offer a £150 bounty to be added to the fine which is then paid to anyone reporting a car to the DVLA with an out of date tax disc accompanied by a photo.


I think that you'd virtually eradicate most tax avoidance within a fortnight as all and sundry would report every car they spotted without a valid disc secure in the knowledge that they would shortly be collecting £150 off the DVLA for each car dobbed in.

In fact I'm sure that a number of people would become full or part time 'out of date tax disc' spotters and make a tidy little income out of it.


And to those who would shout 'you're turning person against person' or encouraging sneaks.

I would counter with 'You're just dobbing in people who are stealing off the rest of us by not paying the taxes that the rest of us do'

The whole process would remove any need to tie up the police who indeed could make a few extra bob themselves in their spare time if they wish and would just generate a countrywide army of road tax avoider spotters for free.



*** I would like to claim copyright for this idea just case anyone on this forum tries to nick it in return for a generous cash reward from a grateful government***

[Ed3]

Originally Posted by oswestryalex

It is interesting - I do like the ability to pay road tax by direct debit monthly, but don't like the new way you can double pay tax when buying a car from someone else - they lose a month and, in effect, so do you. I have indeed decided to keep the newest addition off the road until December and start taxing then. How much are DVLA making from this double payment for a month? Pros and cons - but tax discs were also nice things in and of themselves.... Here's a better idea: put an extra 5p a litre on fuel and scrap a road tax altogether. The more miles you use the roads, the more you pay. That is fairer.

Some of the main arguments for not puting all tax on fuel is that in some urban areas the poor people tend to live a cheaper locations and therefore further out from where work is, and another issue that in rural areas a number of people can be on low incomes. Therefore it can be that taxes on fuel and so miles traveled can penalise those least able to pay

[Vanbursta]

The problem is the Government has to justify themselves, the new VED rules aren't working and are effectively costing more to administer, universal credit doesn't work and is costing more to administer than the benefits it replaces. PIP was supposed to make the cost to the Government cheaper, that isn't working and is now costing more than the DLA it replaced, will the government backtrack on any of these things? very unlikely, their arrogance prevents them doing the sensible thing, they simply can't admit they got it wrong. Every time they change something for the better it becomes worse and we pay for it in the long run.

Yes I am angry about these things, that's my hard earned Tax money they are wasting, and while we are on the subject what happened to Great Britain, why the heck can't we just tell Europe to get lost? we had no problems trading before the EU, so why are we frightened of it now?

[coolguy]

I was sorry to see the tax disc disappear, but on the flip side, I can now tax or SORN on line at a moments' notice, which is great as I used to be lazy and tax my fleet (often 10-12) whereas now I just keep 2-3 taxed, and put the others on for a month or two when needed. I save money, the Government loses, and has to pay more in admin.

However, I would be very happy to see the petrol duty raised to do away with the tax - those who use the roads most (not me), and have thirsty car (me!)would pay proportionately. Ironically, the original excuse against this was that one needed tax to have a check on insurance and MOT. Since this no longer applies, I do favour this solution.

[steve-45]

Originally Posted by Ed3

Some of the main arguments for not puting all tax on fuel is that in some urban areas the poor people tend to live a cheaper locations and therefore further out from where work is, and another issue that in rural areas a number of people can be on low incomes. Therefore it can be that taxes on fuel and so miles traveled can penalise those least able to pay

If it is seen as a tax on the poorer part of the community, why do the government keep penalizing those with older cars?
I'm sure if people were able to afford to replace them they would love to have a new car outside their front door.

I too think loading road tax onto fuel would be a good idea as we would then pick up some taxation revenue from the army of foreign registered cars that permanently live here.