This in from Andrew Turner’s office, in their own words. Ed
The Island’s MP, Andrew Turner is asking for Islanders’ views on a idea put forward by a Government Minister to scrap road tax. He believes such a scheme might potentially benefit Island residents.
The proposals came from a Minister for Transport, Norman Baker MP, who suggested in an interview this week with the Sunday Express that some form of pay-per-mile road tax is becoming increasingly more likely. Mr Baker was prompted to make the suggestion after the Office for Budget Responsibility released figures to suggest that the Treasury’s revenue for fuel duty would more than half by the year 2030.
Revenue neutral
The proposed new system would aim to be ‘revenue neutral’. Existing vehicle excise duty (road tax) would be scrapped and fuel duties lowered with the costs offset by a charge per mile.
Mileage would be monitored by a ‘black box’ device in the car. The number of miles driven would be directly linked to how much motorists would pay.
Mr Baker says that the system would be ‘revenue neutral’ and would be no real increase in costs to the average car user – but overall charges would be increased for those who drive longer distances and who typically use motorways.
Mr Turner believes there may well be potential benefits to Island residents, many of whom undertake mostly relatively short journeys around the Island. At the moment this is only an idea floated by a single minister, the Government have not published any plans to change the system or scrap road tax.
Share your views
Mr Turner commented that, “I am always wary when it is claimed that any proposal would be revenue neutral. There would be significant costs involved in setting up such a system so if it doesn’t increase the overall tax take I think it would be very unlikely the Government would introduce it.
“Nonetheless it is important to know what people think about possible changes in the road tax system. If this discussion were to go any further it would be useful to have some idea of how it would be received by Islanders. If anybody would like to contact me with their views, either in favour or against the idea, I would be most interested to hear them.”
Mr Turner’s office address is The Riverside Centre, The Quay, Newport, PO30 2QR. Alternatively he can be contacted by e-mail at www.islandmp.com or by phone on 01983 530808.
Image: Comedy_Nose under CC BY 2.0
