The AA has recently announced that motorist should be aware that they could be subject to a greater stealth tax if they are driving a greener vehicle. Previously, the government has been very friendly towards more energy-efficient cars as they are good for the environment. However, it seems that if the new stealth tax comes into effect then the government are going to rake back some of the tax that they are losing out on because of the adoption of greener vehicles.
The stealth tax is being implement it through the reform of something called the Vehicle Excise Duty. This is going to mean that all drivers have to pay a certain amount of revenue to the government and it doesn’t matter what sort of car they drive. This means that people who drive a car that is very inefficient are going to have to pay the same amount as someone who drives a very efficient vehicle.
This change in policy is something that was actually written in the budget last month but was left out by George Osborne in his speech probably because it was going to prove to be quite controversial.
This is not the only additional expense for drivers are going to be facing in the coming months. If everything goes ahead with increasing the duty on fuel is going to come into effect in August. This is going to mean that petrol is three pence more expensive on the litre compared to its current prices.
The AA said that they suspect that this change the system is part of the Prime Minister’s larger plan to privatise some of the main motorways and trunk roads in the country. The motoring group said that this is going to allow the government to raise the amount of money charged to people using toll roads in the UK.
Additionally, private companies that run these roads are going to be given money from the tax that is currently collected from people driving vehicles.
