Proposed stealth tax for motorists

[cootuk]

What do you mean Voting Day, they've already re-elected our President for the UK!

[222s]

If this was a fee for change of ownership / actual updating of records etc, then that would be perfectly fair enough to charge a fee for services rendered. Unfortunately it isn't - it's an 'annual administration fee', just for having a car in their records!!!

The justification is that it will subsidise the cost of new vehicle registrations. which is hardly a fair thing to do - those who can afford to buy a new car can easily afford the initial registration fee, plain and simple.

The issue of most concern is that it is extremely likely to be used as a back door way of introducing continuous licensing for all registered cars, irrelevant of whether they are in use or SORNed.... :-(

What also concerns me is how an admin charge can possibly be justified for the DVLA basically doing nothing other than keeping the existing records (which is what they are supposed to do anyway!).

IMO, this proposal is little more than blackmail. I hope that the DVLA see sense, and don't introduce it. Not only will it make them very unpopular, I also suspect that it will lead directly to a large increase in the number of cars which aren't registered, which is presumably what they are trying to avoid in the first place.

Effective measures taken to deal with those who don't register cars in their name or drive without insurance / MOT / Tax etc would be a far better idea. Instead, they seem to have chosen to penalise innocent, law abiding citizens, whilst the guilty continue to escape punishment.

1967 Amazon 122S B20 Estate
1961 A-H Sprite Mk2 948cc

[stuart131]

abso- bloody- lutely totally agree

Hi everyone, I,m back with a recent update on the proposed stealth tax..............
this is a report in the March edition of Practical Classics who first published this anouncment.
quote 'Thousands back tax disc protest, controversial plans to levy an extra fee on tax disc purchases and SORN declarations has prompted a 50,000 signature petition to be delivered to the Prime Minister Tony Blair.Two Labour and two Cons MPs joined Lord Montagu and the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) to hand in the petition at no. 10 Downing Street , it goes on to say that quote' The Conservatives are pledged against a possession tax' announced Tim Yeo MP'Shadow Transport Sec, also revealed that the Cons' would consider reintroducing the rolling historic vehicle tax exemption if they were elected.
The report goes on about other issues but highlighted that as the FBHVC petition was handed in, the DVLA's plans came under fire from another MP Tony Simmonds, who warned that the charge could rise rapidly. He said: 'If proposals became policy, theres's no telling where it would stop.It could be £10 next year and rise to £50 in just a few years. The government has a track record in doing thigs like this.
The DVLA says that the money will be used to off-set the cost of first registrations for new cars and cut the costs of issuing photo drivers, licences.

Well lets hope that this petition may swing in our favour, but I say this that I for one will not be voting for you know who.