The Government climate change advisory body recommended this week that there should be a road pricing charge nationally, on top of the fuel taxes and environmental taxes in existence to further encourage motorists to choose other transportation options.
Until the latest statement by the committee, it was commonly believed that if a pay as you motoring charge was added, the road and fuel taxes would disappear. However, the Committee on Climate Change believes that by adding road pricing, over 5.6m tones of CO2 could be saved per year by 2020.
The Committee stated that the fuel tax should remain, because it gives people motivation to purchase an electric car, versus a traditional vehicle.
On the other hand, the Environmental Transport Association believes that action needs to be taken towards tackling CO2 emissions and climate change, but that it would be better to tax people on the carbon they give off, instead of for road usage.
An ETA spokesperson stated that while people need to take responsibility for the CO2 emissions they produce, it is unfair to tax motorists upwards of £600 for every tone that is produced, while major commerce only has to pay £6 a tonne.
According to the spokesman in this type of unfair system, everyone would lose.
Currently road usage is free, but tax is charged on fuel. On the other hand, those with electric cars are not subject to any taxes, including potential road charges, due to the fact they do not give off any climate damaging gases.
