![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Jul. 11th, 2012
On the subject of "Road Tax"
Jul. 11th, 2012 03:39 pmBecause I'm tired of getting into altercations with people who object to the presence of cyclists on the road on the basis that "they don't pay road tax", I thought I'd clear a few things up.
First: nobody pays road tax. Road tax doesn't even exist. The payment commonly known as road tax is actually called Vehicle Excise Duty, or VED, and it's a tax on the vehicle. It is paid as a license to drive or park a vehicle on public roads, and the amount paid usually depends on the emissions of the vehicle. So, as it happens, a bicycle rider pays the appropriate amount for their zero-emission vehicle!
Historically, the Road Fund (and its predecessor - the RF came into being in 1920, but taxes for vehicles were introduced in 1888) existed to pay for road construction and maintenance, but it was very heavily subsidised by local and general taxation, because RF wasn't enough to cover the costs, and eventually, in 1937, the government stopped ring-fencing the Road Fund and it all went into a big pot along with income tax and council tax, and it is this pot which pays for the upkeep of roads today.
It's also worth noting here that the original VED was introduced because the roads were intended for use by horses and cyclists, and the tax upon drivers was implemented to give them permission to use the roads. At risk of sounding like a small child: "we were here first!"
Amusingly, Winston Churchill once predicted the future in a speech opposing the Road Fund, saying: "It will be only a step from this for them to claim in a few years the moral ownership of the roads their contributions have created". Well, quite.
Cambridge Cycle Campaign also came out with a gem, suggesting that those who believe cyclists should be banned from the road for not paying this mythical "road tax" should also be in favour of smokers getting priority medical care, as non-smokers don't pay a "hospital tax".
This also led me to think about some of the vehicles that are exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty: fire engines, police cars, ambulances and other healthcare vehicles. Would those arguing that cyclists should be banned from the roads also ban the vehicles of the emergency services, I wonder?
(There are others too - vintage cars, army vehicles, vehicles imported by members of foreign armed forces, etc. and I wouldn't object to the argument that owners of these vehicles should pay VED.)
In short, this "cyclists don't pay road tax" argument is old, and boring, and so very very wrong.
First: nobody pays road tax. Road tax doesn't even exist. The payment commonly known as road tax is actually called Vehicle Excise Duty, or VED, and it's a tax on the vehicle. It is paid as a license to drive or park a vehicle on public roads, and the amount paid usually depends on the emissions of the vehicle. So, as it happens, a bicycle rider pays the appropriate amount for their zero-emission vehicle!
Historically, the Road Fund (and its predecessor - the RF came into being in 1920, but taxes for vehicles were introduced in 1888) existed to pay for road construction and maintenance, but it was very heavily subsidised by local and general taxation, because RF wasn't enough to cover the costs, and eventually, in 1937, the government stopped ring-fencing the Road Fund and it all went into a big pot along with income tax and council tax, and it is this pot which pays for the upkeep of roads today.
It's also worth noting here that the original VED was introduced because the roads were intended for use by horses and cyclists, and the tax upon drivers was implemented to give them permission to use the roads. At risk of sounding like a small child: "we were here first!"
Amusingly, Winston Churchill once predicted the future in a speech opposing the Road Fund, saying: "It will be only a step from this for them to claim in a few years the moral ownership of the roads their contributions have created". Well, quite.
Cambridge Cycle Campaign also came out with a gem, suggesting that those who believe cyclists should be banned from the road for not paying this mythical "road tax" should also be in favour of smokers getting priority medical care, as non-smokers don't pay a "hospital tax".
This also led me to think about some of the vehicles that are exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty: fire engines, police cars, ambulances and other healthcare vehicles. Would those arguing that cyclists should be banned from the roads also ban the vehicles of the emergency services, I wonder?
(There are others too - vintage cars, army vehicles, vehicles imported by members of foreign armed forces, etc. and I wouldn't object to the argument that owners of these vehicles should pay VED.)
In short, this "cyclists don't pay road tax" argument is old, and boring, and so very very wrong.