Ah, road tax. That old mythical favourite seemingly rolled out on an almost daily basis by those seeking to delegitimise the place of cyclists on the roads, based on a tax which hasn’t existed in the UK since 1937.

But what if we flipped the question, satiating some drivers’ nostalgic desires to see road tax return as well as filling an ever widening hole in the Treasury?

Should motorists then pay a reintroduced form of road tax alongside the existing Vehicle Excise Duty?

Road.cc reader Cycloid thinks so. In a tongue-in-cheek forum post over the weekend, they wrote:

With the move away from hydrocarbon to electric powered vehicles fewer drivers are paying VED and the Chancellor is reaping a smaller revenue from the motoring population. The first criticism of motorists towards cyclists is the Free Rider Charge: ‘They don't pay for using the roads’. We now have the same situation with motorists – an increasing proportion of drivers are not contributing fairly towards the roads which they use.

The solution could be simple – bring back Road Tax.

All drivers will pay VED on a sliding down to zero, along with Road Tax.. Clearly, reading the road.cc blog, there is a lot of nostalgia amongst motorists for this much-loved tax, and it would be welcomed with open arms as a fair solution to the problem.

The Road Tax component could be earmarked for road improvements, as the recent hike in NICs is earmarked for NHS catchup. Remember not to talk about "Road Maintenance" in this context; our roads are not fit for purpose and getting worse. Maintenance implies keeping the status quo.

When drivers receive a Road Tax bill they will be reminded that it does not give them any special rights to use the roads and that they must respect the vulnerable road user hierarchy.

Job done - Simples!

What do you think? Would bringing back road tax represent a fair solution to the changing character of our roads?

Here were some of the replies to Cycloid’s, let’s say, interesting suggestion:

I'm not a fan of "road tax" as it just feeds the stupid with ideas that they have more rights on the roads.

However, if we're going to need a replacement for VED (which would be great as I'm fed up with all the fumes put out by entitled car drivers) then it should be charged proportionate to axle weight (possibly even to the 4th power of axle weight) and possibly described as a road repair tax.

I have similar feelings about 'road tax', it was stopped in 1937 for very good reasons. If we pursue this idea we could end up with things like 'school tax', from which childless adults are exempt, and so on...

Although axle weight would be a good principle, it does allow some to bleat how their claimed need for a big vehicle is unfairly penalised. And don't forget that VED evasion has got worse since tax discs were abolished.

Reversing Rishi Sunak's latest stunt and raising the duty on fossil fuel would be an up-front, honest way of dealing with some of the problems. That way we tax the usage (consumption), rather than vehicle ownership. It may even allow us to seriously discuss important issues such as road danger, pollution - NOx, CO, particulates, noise etc - and the other serious issues created by current traffic levels. However, it doesn't address the issue of EVs which, as most now acknowledge, exist to save the car industry, not the planet.

How about a separate annual tax for anyone with a current driving licence that has at least six points? There would be a higher tax band for the bastards with 12 points or more, since it seems that many (all?) of them plead "exceptional hardship" and get treated almost like victims by magistrates when they should be pariahs and get ASBOs like yobs. It could be paid by Direct Debit like Council Tax, which should mean less admin cost involved in collecting it.

I'd start by making all on-road parking charged, and (so that that doesn't unfairly penalise those who can't afford it) adding an element in to the council tax calculation for off-road parking provision.

Definitely needs to be a traffic jam tax…

https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-11-april-2022-291829#live-blog-item-33231