AA Members Think Road Tax Is Being Used Aa Stealth Tax

More than 80% of AA members agree that road tax is being used as a stealth tax, according to the AA Populus panel of 15,306 members.

The AA president has today written to the Chancellor requesting that the "retrospective" nature of Vehicle Excise Duty for cars registered between 2001-2006 should be scrapped.

The Chancellor has been told that this is a growing issue of concern for AA members. A "retrospective" tax does not send out a signal but hits many motorists who cannot afford to change their vehicles. Whist 70% of motorists agree that a tax system based on CO2 will influence the type of cars bought there is confusion and lack of information about the system. Three quarters of motorists agree that by "backdating" the charges the value of some used cars will be damaged and people will keep older cars longer.

The results sent to the Chancellor show:

• 35% do not understand the new system of VED
• 70% agree that having a VED system based on CO2 will influence the type of car purchased.
• 59% disagree that all cars registered from 2001 should be subject to the new tax system
• 56% say the new system for post 2001 cars should be stopped (22% neither agree nor disagree,19% think it should go ahead)
• 58% have not seen information about changes relevant to post 2001 cars
• 82% agree that road tax is being used as a stealth tax
• 35% agree that the new showroom tax will make a difference to the types of cars people buy, 48% disagree
• 77% agree that backdating the road tax changes will damage the value of some used cars meaning that people will keep older cars for longer.

Commenting on the results, AA president Edmund King, said;

"Over 80% of motorists now see road tax as a "stealth tax" and we have called it a mean tax rather than a green tax. We believe that the retrospective nature of the tax increases for cars registered between 2001-6 should be scrapped before it comes a '10p tax on wheels'. The Government should also provide more user-friendly information to inform car buyers of changes to VED over the next two years. Our concern is that people may be buying cars today that they may not know will fall into much higher bands in 2009 and 2010.

28 July 2008 © Moneyextra.com

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