Pay per mile proves popular

New research finds support for the government’s plans consider vehicle mileage as well as CO2 emissions within the motoring taxation system.

Green car advisory website, TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk asked website visitors whether they would prefer a pay-per-mile approach to road tax or the current method which only takes into account vehicle emissions. The results were divided, with a narrow margin of 53.5 per cent voting in favour of road pricing compared to 46.5 per cent voting against.

Although the idea of a national road pricing scheme has so far proven unpopular with motorists, it could for some save money. If a switch to a national road pricing scheme replaces the current taxation of fuel duty and vehicle exercise duty, it could produce a more straight-forward approach to motoring taxation. While the poll results show a fairly even split of the vote for and against a pay per mile system of taxation, this can undoubtedly be partially explained as the differing opinion of those who have a high annual mileage and those who do not.

While a national road pricing strategy seems to have been sidelined for the immediate future in favour of a regional congestion charging, it will be interesting to see if the Greater Manchester population reject plans for their congestion charge when voting closes on December 11 as this could have major implications for similar charging plans within other cities.

Company car taxation already takes some account for business miles yet cars accounted for 402.4 billion vehicle kilometres in 2006, a healthy proportion of which is private mileage. There has been a dramatic increase in the volume of cars on our roads over the years with car traffic increasing 87 per cent since 1980 resulting in a rise in congestion. Congestion in English urban areas rose by 10.2 per cent between August 2005 and August 2007. This rise in congestion is costly to both the economy and environment.

TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk editor, Faye Sunderland says: “There are many reasons why people are cautious of national road pricing, be it due to invasive technology or a lack of faith that the money raised will be used properly. Yet if the government was to reform taxation completely, road pricing schemes could form a simpler system of taxation. It could ease congestion and encourage the development of out-of-town areas.”

“According to The Eddington Transport Study published in 2006, the rising cost of congestion will cost an extra £22 billion worth of time in England alone by 2025. While pay-per-mile may seem like it could be just another expense pushed onto motorists, congestion is already seriously suffocating our economy.”