Sign the petition to reinstate 30 yr rolling free road tax

[FredTransit]

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/183

 

Now I know in the past these online petitions have been a waste of time. Things have changed a bit though, and now if a petition gets 100,000 signatures the subject has to be discussed in Parliament. If this got reinstated, 99% of our chod would be tax exempt in 4 years! Go on, sign it, you know you want to!!

[Albert Ross]

Mine's a daily driver..... and pre-73....... the others are off road till usable. Not only that, it was 25 years. Rescinded in 1998 IIRC.

[FredTransit]

Yeah I remember it being 25 years, but if it came back as 30, I wouldn't complain.

[dieselnutjob]

I think 30 years is more realistic though. It would be in line with other European countries and would cause less loss of revenue.

In fact they could make it rolling 38 years and it would hardly cost them anything at all.

[FredTransit]

Don't give em ideas, 30 years is enough! As you said, it's in line with the rest of the EU too.

[dollywobbler]

Well worth a signature. I've signed it. Ok, so it's possible that no good will come from this petition, but it'll do a lot more good than a whinge on the internet.

[Lankytim]

Wasn't a petition like this tried a couple of years ago and got the "the Government already provide an exceptional concession to classic car owners, so piss off" kind of reply.

 

The environmentalists would never let it happen.

[Polystratus]

Wasn't a petition like this tried a couple of years ago and got the "the Government already provide an exceptional concession to classic car owners, so piss off" kind of reply.

 

The environmentalists would never let it happen.

 

Yes they did, there's also some talk that the pre 73 exemption may also be scrapped.

[dollywobbler]

The environmentalists can sod off. They've got no grounds for complaining on this one. Perhaps they should keep lobbying for higher taxes on aviation fuel instead...

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

what's the 'rest of the EU'? Spain's mostly got 25 years and Italy 20. Of course, Greece, being the socialfascist exception, has no such system and only grants exemptions to cars issued with a set of show plates specially for classic meets-races etc. (i.e. no regular road use allowed)

 

Does anyone have country-by-country data?

[mattblack]

Be careful what you wish for...

[Lacy]

In the current climate can you really see the government doing anything that will reduce revenue.......even a little bit? As someone who pays nearly ? £5000 p.a. Into a public sector pension and likely to rise by another £1300 p.a over the next couple of years because of the fiscal state we find ourselves in I find it highly unlikely........Oh, I don't earn a fortune by the way......I take home significantly Less than the single mother of 10..... Yes 10 feral children by several fathers gets in benefits that I recently had the misfortune to come across...... all of whom have yet to pay a penny in taxes.......still, at least they can afford to bring their children up in reasonable comfort.....except I wouldnt mind so much if they did.....instead current partner is an alcoholic and they are both druggies so thats where the money goes folks.....but that's a subject for another thread......the government have got bigger fires to put out I suspect.

 

Best of luck with the petition!

[eddyramrod]

In Cyprus a car is considered "Antika" at 30 years old, but the tax isn't free even then, it's simply reduced by 2/3. It all helps! At least there doesn't appear to be a restriction on use. Yet.

[Mr Lobster]

Be careful what you wish for...

 

Exactly. And thats why I won't be 'signing' it.

 

Much rather pay to tax my cars and be able to do whatever I like than have free tax but restricted use - because thats the way it has gone in other countries.

[garethj]

To be honest, I'm ok with the £200 a year for pre 2001 cars no matter what the engine size. I reckon any government draft report on our kind of cars is unlikely to end up in our favour.

 

I vote to not sign and stay under the radar

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Be careful what you wish for...

 

Exactly. And thats why I won't be 'signing' it.

 

Much rather pay to tax my cars and be able to do whatever I like than have free tax but restricted use - because thats the way it has gone in other countries.

 

I agree.

I am satisfied with the current system. I pay far less tax for my Jaguar than I would if it was a new car, yet have free and unrestricted use. Any special provision for a rolling free road tax for old cars would be pregnant with risk of restricted use at some future date.

[warren t claim]

To be honest, I'm ok with the £200 a year for pre 2001 cars no matter what the engine size. I reckon any government draft report on our kind of cars is unlikely to end up in our favour.

 

I vote to not sign and stay under the radar

 

In 20 years the top VED band will probably be pushing £1500. Do you think our leaders will want to see free tax on those?

[Station]

I signed, just to see the DVLA go 'what? oh, yeah, whatever.' It's never going to happen, they have nothing to gain from it.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

In 20 years the top VED band will probably be pushing £1500.

 

Which, if the economy remains as 'strong' and the pound keeps getting pounded like it has been over the past 2-3 years (it's lost almost 30% against the Euro of all things- more like 50% against the Swiss franc), will barely be enough for a pint and a portion of fish and chips at your local Wetherspoons.

 

Do you think our leaders will want to see free tax on those?

 

The few of them who are clever enough to think about the future will also be clever enough to realise that there's no point worrying about anything that's further away than a couple of elections. Nobody can guarantee you that, in 20 years' time, Britain won't be an annexed US state, a semi-autonomous province of the EU or a quasi-dictatorial feudal outpost of China (or, if you want a more positive scenario, the world leader in everything, following the discovery of some obscure precious metal that's desperately needed for the construction of the next generation of Wiis and Xboxes, the royalties from which also leading to the abolition of income tax).

[garethj]

In 20 years the top VED band will probably be pushing £1500. Do you think our leaders will want to see free tax on those?

Government can’t predict what’ll happen in 2 years let alone 20. I’m not quite sure what point you’re making, but it is early and I haven’t had my first cup of coffee yet.

 

I know they’ll find new and interesting ways of taxing the motorist because it’s an easy target. By then every person might be microchipped like pets so that’ll make it easier to tax us for walking, going for a piss etc

[ProgRocker]

Signed the petition.

[theorganist]

I signed it as at least it may provoke some debate. I doubt anything will come from it but it would be nice if they did change it to cover maybe the whole of the 1970's at least!

[dollywobbler]

Exactly. I believe that the All-party Parliamentary Historic Vehicle Group is also gently pushing for the cut-off to start rolling again, so the issue is going to get raised, whether you vote for it or not. I was a cynic last time, but this time around, I think it's worth debating. Perhaps that's because I don't own anything pre-1973 at the moment, so I've personally got nothing to lose. I don't own anything 30 years or older either though, so it's not like I'd immediately benefit from a change in the rules.

[CreepingJesus]

I'll not be signing it. While it's very worthy (and it's a shame that the free tax was dropped in the first place), if this gets its' moment in parliament, it'll be given as a sop to the motoring lobby, when much more important matters should be given that precious debating time. Like the absurd level of fuel duty, to name but one.

Besides, why can't the all-party classic cars and bikes groups, get their arses in gear to get this put forward to be debated? Furthermore, I'm slightly afraid that if I click on the e-petitions site, my pc will catch loony right-wingitis, and want hanging brought back for people who look a bit funny. That's normally what e-petitions is for, right?

[Hertz]

I kind of think this will bite the 100,000 petitioners back in the arse again. Don't forget the Female Pension age when petitioned by the male population saying it was not fair. Also the same for Female Car Insurance. Quite a few MP's will think to themsleves, free tax for pre73 cars, that's ageist! They splurt out more CO2 then newer cars so they can pay as well!

 

Parliment Decision - No free tax for any cars registered before 1973. Thanks for bringing this tax mistake to our attention.

[dollywobbler]

To be honest, I don't think that's even slightly likely. It IS likely that we might get rolling free tax, but with some unpleasant conditions lumped in - ie restrictions on use - but then you might also get the option to 'opt out' of historic status if you want to do more with your old car than just potter to a show every summer.

 

If the government decided to suddenly start charging ALL classics for road tax, I think you'd find a lot of cars suddenly being SORNd, so the government wouldn't get much income anyway. There's no sense in them doing that.

[Albert Ross]

I use my "classic" every day. I have it BECAUSE it's cheap to keep. Free tax, fully comp. Insurance £135 a year, and parts available off the shelf next day, free delivery, and excellent prices. Land Rovers the same age as mine tend to be kept as playthings. I am one of the rare people that actuallly USE mine for it's intended purpose. The next one I rebuild will be used also....and that's going to be a LHD 2.5 Petrol.... GR-37 for the environment. I have no intention of letting people know that I am not paying for Road Tax. (I baulked on signing when I relaised that Big Brother wanted my address etc.)

[FredTransit]

Personally, I doubt the govt can afford to re introduce this, but you gotta try. As for 'be careful what you wish for', I also doubt there would be any new restrictions on use of tax free vehicles. It would be hard to police, and with the obsession with ANPR cameras, easy to get round if restrictions were to be introduced. Maybe I'm deluding myself though, but there's no proof there would be any changes to use. It's even be said in so many words in letters from MPs when all this was muttered about on RR. What they would loose in road tax would be added to by the costs of setting up restrictions so again the govt can't afford it.