Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for new diesel cars should be raised by up to £800

[daveb47]

 

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for new diesel cars should be raised by up to £800 to help improve air quality, a think tank has said.

Policy Exchange also proposes that the higher tax fund a scrappage scheme for older diesel models.

It suggested Â£500m could be raised each year through the higher VED, with the proceeds being put towards £2,000 grants for the owners of older diesels to purchase a cleaner car.

It argued that such drivers should not be penalised for buying diesels in good faith at a time when they were seen as being a more environmentally sound alternative to petrol vehicles.

Diesel has since come under fire, with nitrogen dioxide from exhausts being blamed for tens of thousands of deaths in the UK each year.

In January, a study launched in reaction to the VW emissions scandal found that large numbers of diesel cars were breaking official emissions limits despite complying with testing regimes.

The fresh proposal follows a similar call for a scrappage scheme by a committee of MPs last year. 

It revives memories of a £400m project that ran from 2009 to 2010 and saw owners who scrapped their old cars paid £2,000 - split between Government and the motor industry - towards the cost of a new one, boosting the fortunes of the car making industry in the wake of the financial crisis.

Richard Howard, head of environment and energy at Policy Exchange, said London and other major UK cities were facing an "air pollution crisis".

"If we are to clean up air pollution then the Government needs to recognise that diesel is the primary cause of the problem, and to promote a shift to alternatives," he said.

"This needs to be done in a way which does not unduly penalise existing diesel drivers, who bought their vehicle in good faith, and gives motorists sufficient time to respond.

"Instead of increasing diesel fuel duty or banning diesels from city centres, the Government should look to increase taxes on new diesel cars and offer scrappage grants to take old polluting diesels off the road."

 

It was bound to happen....

 

[beko1987]

I'm up for that! £2k  to get rid of my ZX would buy a lovely petrol waftobarge and £1500 change for pez!

[Kiltox]

I'm sure I could find an old diesel nail that isn't shite enough to save to scrap for £2000 off a new Dacia Sandero or some other cheap future shite like that

[Lacquer Peel]

Watch the prices of new cars rise by about £2k if this happens.

[Kiltox]

Watch the prices of new cars rise by about £2k if this happens.

Or the sellers of tat like Dacia, Kia, Hyundai etc clean up AGAIN like in 2008/9/whatever

[Jazoli]

All it does is penalise folk who don't want to buy a new car or simply cannot afford to, why can't these people thinking up these stupid ideas just fuck right off, cunts

[Lacquer Peel]

More socialism for the rich.

[Pete-M]

It's right though. Diesels are filthy things that shouldn't be encouraged.

[Negative Creep]

Just shows what an utter joke the emissions based RFL is. Make diesels cheap to tax and shock horror loads of people buy them

[oldcars]

Is this yet more pish from the EU?

[sierraman]

Its all well and good giving someone £2000 for their old car but what if they cannot afford £250 a month the purchase a new equivalent, or due to poor creditworthiness can't get the finance?

 

It will just take all the decent ones away, then all you are left with is Barry Bumcrack in his Vectra DTI belching black smoke out of its terminally ill injectors.

[dave21478]

Tip of the iceberg. Since it was suddenly decided that diesel was kitten killing devils fuel this sort of thing is going to get worse and worse.

 

Just watch - it will be taxed to oblivion at the pump, higher road tax and diesel cars will be banned in more and more city centres.

 

[/doom]

[Bren]

The government complains that we are in too much debt on a personal level.

 

So you cannot force people to get new cars on tick.

[Junkman]

That's great news!

How much of my own tax money will they pay me, when I weigh that hateful piece of shit Benz in on the next scrappage scheme?

[willswitchengage]

Why don't they just scrap VED and increase fuel duty? It's the simplest and most effective way of road pricing. Drive more, you pay more. Drive a bigger car, you pay more. But OMG THIS WOULD DESTROY THE HAULAGE INDUSTRY. I calculated a while ago that this would increase the price of fuel by about 7p a litre, and fuel has er, fallen by about 40p a litre in the past five years. Plus, no more silly expensive VED bands calculated on number of axles etc etc.

 

Oh, and think of all the efficiency savings from removing the need to pay VED.

[forddeliveryboy]

So if you want an old diesel, buy a keeper before this idea comes about. There's plenty of choice at next to no money, pre-HDi PSA stuff is all cheap as are things like Aldi80s and Sharalaxies. 

[oldcars]

So if you want an old diesel, buy a keeper before this idea comes about. There's plenty of choice at next to no money, pre-HDi PSA stuff is all cheap as are things like Aldi80s and Sharalaxies. 

Rover 75s

[Angry Sheep]

It's a think-tank making stupid, unreasonable, unthought-out demands that'll never come to fruition. Chill.

[forddeliveryboy]

I'd welcome way fewer diesels - 90% of them aren't any better for the user than a petrol and newer ones are a bit problem-prone. Just sad that there's a possibility they could penalise those who use them to best effect.

[stephen01]

I'm sure my CRV will fall into the category of 'old' car, its just turned 9 years old, 177 g/km (I) CO2, already £225 a year to tax. Be fucked if I'm having another car on the tick,

 

I have the leaf which counteracts the kitten killing CRV.

[Des]

 Make it £8000 and they'll get my vote.

Then get the DVLA to print out a list and tattoo DEEZELMONG! on the forehead of every registered keeper of the foul bloody things in this land.

[Pete-M]

My Merc is already illegal in lots of German cities.

 

Euro 3 FTL.

[garbaldy]

I like how all the petrol burning what was it you call them mongs have jumped on this as if it's ok because petrol doesn't harm the environment, oh no petrol's fine let's all buy petrol's and keep fucking the world, at least we can be high and mighty not like those dirty diesel mongs,

[colnerov]

 It's not diesel that produces Nitrogen Dioxide, it's direct injection and that applies to petrol as well.

[garbaldy]

It's not diesel that produces Nitrogen Dioxide, it's direct injection and that applies to petrol as well.

No you must be wrong it's definitely diesel to blame the gubberment said so.

[Eddie Honda]

Is this yet more pish from the EU?

no

 

It's a think-tank making stupid, unreasonable, unthought-out demands that'll never come to fruition. Chill.

Two words jumped out.

 

"Think-tank"

 

"Policy Exchange"

 

I don't necessarily agree with the second part of Angry Sheep's view. What I don't like about think-tanks is charitable status, secrecy of who the fuck is funding them and all that jazz.

 

http://whofundsyou.org/org/policy-exchange

 

http://www.monbiot.com/2011/09/12/think-of-a-tank/ (see last paragraph)

[For Fiats Sake]

Why do they keep going after private cars?

 

Shirley lorrys, buses, coaches and trains belch out more crap?

 

Oh that's right, motorists have no lobbying power!

[dieselnutjob]

I was looking at my fuelly data and it seems that in five years I have put over 10 grand in diesel in the 607 with an average of 36mpg.  This is more than what I paid for the car.  If I had gone for a petrol auto 607 what would I have paid?

[garbaldy]

Why do they keep going after private cars?

 

!

Because you can't go after volcano's and we all like meat so that leaves cars.

[forddeliveryboy]

I like how all the petrol burning what was it you call them mongs have jumped on this as if it's ok because petrol doesn't harm the environment, oh no petrol's fine let's all buy petrol's and keep fucking the world, at least we can be high and mighty not like those dirty diesel mongs,

To be fair they're not as holier than thou as the EV brigade who seem to really believe the zero emissions codswallop which they're told. If you replace a V12 Jag with a Leaf then the hedges will start growing again but exchange a 50mpg eurobox for one and the difference is negligible.