OK, so it’s not a U-turn, but Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have been forced into a rethink on the proposed changes to the UK’s road tax system.
After some heated debate in the houses of Parliament last night, the government has been ‘persuaded’ that it might be a good idea for them to go away and have another think about it. Labour MPs have been getting a bit of stick from their constituents about the unpopular tax change, in particular the decision to back-date it and apply it to all cars registered since May 2001.
However, don’t get too excited about this. The best outcome we can realistically hope for is that the Treasury decide to make the effective date a bit more lenient and apply it from next year onwards.
The argument for a rethink is that it punishes owners of high-emission cars for a decision they made up to seven years ago. At the same time it could wipe hundreds of pounds from the value of their car, just as they might need to get rid of because they can’t afford to run it any more.
The opposite argument is that it forces motorists to rethink their behaviour, but instead of a bloody big stick why can’t we be offered tax incentives to buy less polluting cars instead? The sad fact is that it’s not the present government’s style to be nice, they’d rather kick you in the happy-sacks and steal the contents of your wallet while you writhe on the ground in agony.
