This Prize-Winning Roads Pricing Idea Sounds Like Our Worst Nightmare

Admittedly, we're biased, but we fail to see the prize-worthiness of a scheme that will charge us even more to drive our cars than we already have to pay
This Prize-Winning Roads Pricing Idea Sounds Like Our Worst Nightmare

An idea that could see British drivers paying an extra £2.3 million in tax every day of the year has for some insane reason been awarded a prestigious economics prize.

The award, which comes with a £250,000 cheque for the scheme’s designer, would see fuel duty and road tax abolished in favour of tracking each car’s mileage and charging drivers accordingly. It wouldn’t be a flat rate across all cars, though; heavier and more polluting cars would pay more. The busiest roads would attract bigger charges, too, so you’re stuffed if you live in a city.

'More polluting' cars would pay even more...
'More polluting' cars would pay even more...

According to the finer details of politics and urban planning graduate Gergely Raccuja’s idea, people would be given a 3000-mile allowance of free miles, after which charges would apply. The money would be collected annually by car insurance providers, minimising the extra admin involved but potentially adding a massive financial burden to the annual payment – or the monthly direct debits.

The scheme would, apparently, raise vastly more money than the current system, and whichever way you slice it, if you drive significantly more than 3000 miles a year you’ll end up paying more than you do today. We have to admit, though, that the system might work in favour of weekend racecars that only cover a few thousand clicks a year and could enjoy super-cheap unleaded.

Big, heavy, polluting cars would pay the most
Big, heavy, polluting cars would pay the most

We quickly dug up the most recent figures we could find for UK fuel duty and road tax revenue, and came up with an annual £33.5 billion road and fuel tax take. That’s nearly £92 million a day being paid in road and fuel taxes. We can only infer that Autocar’s report is meant to indicate an extra 2.3 million per day being paid, which seems likely.

Early supporters of the idea say that the increased take could be put back into fixing the roads. However, even today, nowhere near the full road tax and fuel duty take goes back into the infrastructure, so we think that’s pure bull. What are your thoughts? Would the illusion of cheap fuel and no road tax make up for an extra bill on top of your insurance?

Comments

Anonymous

It’s pretty rough for people like me who use their car for work everyday, covering 5x the 3000 mile allowance. Doesn’t help being a young driver anyway

07/18/2017 - 09:17 |
2 | 2
Ali Mahfooz

I think it’s a much bigger nightmare for SUV owners which IMO is a good thing for us. Why sit 4 feet high in the sky taking up 3/4th of the road and driving more paranoidly because your car is too wide and you have no one in the cabin other than yourself?? Makes no sense whatsoever. I really hope that law is effective towards them and is implemented in other countries as well.

07/18/2017 - 09:24 |
10 | 1
Jakob

The idea doesn’t sound too bad to me. If you use your car more, you pay more. However, that’s all a question of the amount you pay per mile. It only makes sense to the people if the very average driver, somebody who drives 15000 km per year in their Focus, will pay the exact same amount as before, or less.
But obviously, the extra 2.3 million have to come from somewhere, so…

07/18/2017 - 09:25 |
10 | 3
Tomislav Celić

In reply to by Jakob

But the system is very wrong.

07/18/2017 - 11:58 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Jakob

This is where politics get their points - you’re missing out the fact that this is already happening - if you drive (pardon these fictional numbers, don’t live in UK) 1000 miles per year, you consume, let’s say, 100 litres of fuel, it’s price contains x% of taxes - these are getting bigger the more you drive, the more fuel your car consumes.

By the end of the day, person driving 10 times more than the typicall middle-aged man with a hat, pays 10 times+ more on taxes ;)

07/18/2017 - 15:00 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Jakob

Yeah, no.

For starters, when you buy a car, you pay VAT, 20% off a car’s value.
Then you pay every time you fuel up 0.57 GBP plus again 20% VAT per liter of petrol.
Then you pay mandatory insurance, which if you don’t own a VW Up by any chance could cost you at minimum 1200+ GBP a year. By default, if you are younger you get anal’d harder by insurance, same story as everywhere else.
Next, if you happen to be forsaken to commute to a certain area where this monstrosity of a tax is put on, you also pay congestion tax.
Also, no car is bulletproof-built and it has to be maintained constantly. Let’s say 400GBP allocated yearly here for this.

In other words, let them go f themselves, if you happen to commute 160km like I do every day combined to get to my job, I’m already 3x over the allocated limit. Let me get this straight: I pay for fuel (with the fuel tax and VAT added over) to get to my job, I pay insurance as well to get to my job, and now I have to pay f knows how much just because I commute with a car, which most often than not is the only way to get there?

No thanks.

07/18/2017 - 22:01 |
3 | 0
Anonymous

Some people use their cars for work, this will affect them. Can’t possibly call your plumber to walk to your house with all his tools.

07/18/2017 - 09:30 |
4 | 3
Anonymous

I can’t be dealing with this……who’s up for emigrating to somewhere less mentally challenged? lol

07/18/2017 - 09:32 |
2 | 2
Roadster / Tail Red

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Uhm… Japan and Canada are on my list

07/18/2017 - 10:47 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I am. raises hand

07/18/2017 - 11:03 |
1 | 0
Evoist

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I live in Germany and it will most likely happen too. Canada would be nice actually, but are there nice and big racetracks? I’d definitely miss the Nürburgring!

07/18/2017 - 11:52 |
0 | 0
The_Recess

Whats next a fee for the air consumption?

07/18/2017 - 09:33 |
29 | 1

You joke, but these days that doesn’t seem that far-fetched… :/

07/18/2017 - 10:00 |
31 | 0

Someone had the idea of taxing sunlight…

07/18/2017 - 21:22 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

Rotary drivers are all huddled in corners rocking back and forward and mumbling incoherently 🤣

07/18/2017 - 09:33 |
10 | 1
ShadowHuayra (HemiPower)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

FailRace?

07/18/2017 - 13:22 |
1 | 0
Moogen 切り

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Rotary drivers after seeing this article

07/18/2017 - 17:09 |
4 | 0
Freddie Skeates

The government will be drooling over this

07/18/2017 - 09:40 |
0 | 0
Bryan from Philly

Insert Volkswagen joke here

07/18/2017 - 09:41 |
2 | 2
Anonymous

Guys just please be thakfull. In Turkey least tax payment is 45% and for and avarage car (like honda c rv or vw passat) 70%. Man i’ll cry…

07/18/2017 - 09:44 |
1 | 1
MR-2

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

A fellow turk in ct! I am so happy that i want to cry

07/18/2017 - 12:34 |
1 | 0

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