So, the time of year has rolled around again when I must once again give some money to the government by paying my (painful, it always is) car tax. So, how is it this time around? It’s £96.25 for 6 months, or £175 for the year. This is for a car that emits 182 g/km of CO2 and has a 1.8 litre engine.
I maintain that car tax isn’t car taxation on vehicle emissions (though obviously it’s cheaper to tax a more environmentally friendly car), but rather it’s a tax on the type of car that you drive. Think about it. If you do 20,000 miles in a year (most definitely possible, if higher than the ‘average’), you’re going to be polluting more, even in something producing 140 g/km (which let’s be fair, isn’t a great deal).
I probably run to between 6,000-8,000 miles in my car, so short of switching it for something ridiculous like a Ferrari, I’m not going to be chucking out that much CO2. Perhaps the government would prefer to charge an annual mileage car tax? Then again, the cynic in me says that by attempting to move us all into more environmentally friendly cars, there’ll be plenty of VAT to be had…
Leave a Reply