Sir — Thank you to your correspondent John Clapton for, rather patronisingly, claiming to have ‘enlightened’ me on the subject of car taxation, with a history lesson citing references as recent as 1932!
The link between the fund from VED being solely used on road building and maintenance was a process that began to be changed by none other than Winston Churchill when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1920s, and the end of the ring-fencing of this money for road building and maintenance was enshrined in law by the Finance Act of 1936.
Please look it up and ‘enlighten’ yourself, Mr Clapton. I also note that he completely fails to address my point that, regardless of what one chooses to call this tax, the fact remains that low-emission vehicles, currently set at a rate of up to 100g of CO2 per km, are exempt from payment.
So, surely those motorists clamouring for cyclists to pay ‘road tax’ should be pressing just as hard for those low-emission cars, such as many hatchbacks, to have to pay as well?
Because the alternative explanation would be that they simply don’t like cyclists — which surely can’t be true, as that would be ridiculously petty and vindictive, now wouldn’t it?
Chris Day, Kidlington
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