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2nd June 2008

Government Must Change Plans For New Car Taxes

Everyone who relies on a car for their transport will find it even harder to cope with the soaring cost of living, North East MSP Alex Johnstone  warned this week, due to plans to push up taxes on family cars.

Government plans to change Vehicle Excise Duty are calculated to raise an extra £2.5 Billion for the treasury. All cars bought after 2001 will be hit by the higher tax rates which could lead in turn to a plummeting re-sale price for second-hand cars.

Vehicle Excise Duty for a typical Ford Mondeo will rise from £210 to £310 a year, with a new £500 showroom tax on top. Yet, even the Government’s own estimates show that carbon dioxide emissions from motoring will hardly be cut at all.

Commenting on the proposed changes, Alex Johnstone said:

 “At a time when families are feeling the pinch of the rising cost of living and higher fuel prices, energy bills and council tax, the Government should scrap its plans for a big increase in road tax on family cars. This is just one more example of a tax increase which will hit people in rural areas like Aberdeenshire disproportionately because the rely more heavily on their cars."

“Conservatives have consistently opposed these measures and it's time the Government backed down. This is just one more example of stealth tax.”