Amongst the many possible taxes that MAY be in the Budget next week is road pricing. There is no doubt that fuel tax returns are going to steadily fall and the Treasury will need to find an alternative source of income. As a very low mileage driver a cost per mile would be fine by me (if I had an EV!). However this would be counter to the desire to encourage the move from petrol to electric. It would also penalise the drivers who need to do a high mileage. And yes we should try to encourage people to use the car less. there are also too many taxes. I would propose the abolition of fuel tax all together and replace it with an increased vehicle. licence tax – this could discriminate between EV and petrol/deisel, and also allow discounts for very low mileage users and also essential users like the police and other blue light agencies. There would be no reason for concern from the civil liberty lobby about monitoring and data collection. A simplified system which could be cheaper to run. People would bulk at a vehicle licence of ? Maybe 4 figures but like other taxes they would get used to it.
Personally I cannot wait for the budget – an end to the meaningless speculation, about how the rich will all leave – could solve the housing problem as many mansions could house many families.
PS. Has Trump lost it completely? – posting that opponents should be prosecuted and hanged. He says he has never drunk alcohol – what drugs is he on?