Mike Rutherford's column

	Reports of the death of the Toll Tax have been greatly exaggerated - the threat of a new layer of motoring tax is alive and kicking

Let’s get one thing straight: a pay-as-you-drive scheme can’t be introduced as it already exists. A motorist who drives his new car pays to register it, pays VAT on the vehicle purchase, pays for a tax disc, pays car insurance taxes, pays fuel duties and taxes, pays to use bridges and tunnels, pays to drive into certain cities, pays more VAT on repairs and servicing and pays fines for speeding and other misdemeanours. The higher the mileage, the more he spends. So as I say, a pay-as-you-drive system already exists.

Most of the above taxes and charges go to Central Government or its agents, although some go direct to local councils. How much are we talking about? Last time I asked the AA what motorists collectively pay in road user taxation, the figure quoted was £55,000million annually. But that was a while ago. Think nearer £60,000million per annum now. That’s roughly what we as vehicle owners and/or drivers will give to the Treasury and local councils in 2008.

You’d have thought these authorities might be content with the £5billion
a month they’re raking in from us. But apparently not. They want more. And it seems clear they’ll nick these ADDITIONAL billions from us by turning non-toll roads into toll roads. If they do, the consequence will be that national and local governments will get richer while motorists get poorer. Simple.

So, are you worried about whether we’re about to become a toll road nation? Will you be forced to pay ADDITIONAL motoring taxes when driving to work, dropping the kids at school or taking the car to shop for food or clothing?

For reasons I’ve already explained, this expensive EXTRA tier of taxation can’t be described as a pay-as-you-drive system because that already exists. So what will it be? The Toll Tax? The Pay Per Mile Tax? The Congestion Tax? The CO2 tax? I fear that one, some or all these will become widespread.

What we’re talking about is old-fashioned toll fees, and nothing more. The debate about whether we’ll have to pay them to use roads that have, until now, been toll-free has become confused. Drivers just want to know where they stand so they can decide where to live, work and vote. So, what is the public being told?

Last week, The Daily Mirror carried what it described as an EXCLUSIVE
(in big letters) news story on its front page. The triumphant headline (in even bigger letters) read “PAY AS YOU DRIVE AXED”. The paper claimed that it had embarked on – and won – a “No To The Toll Tax crusade”, adding “this is a great victory”. After the page one euphoria, page 10 of the same paper celebrated a “government U-turn” on additional road charges. So far so good.

But on the same page, the paper confessed that London’s Congestion Tax – which rises to £25 a day later this year – “will be copied by cities” in Britain. Tucked away in tiny type on page 14 was another admission from the Mirror that there could still be “toll lanes for drivers” who’ll need to “pay extra” to drive. In other words, the Toll Tax has NOT been axed. Fact. The Government is also guilty of playing dangerous games. On page 72 of a document published last week, it too admitted there is still “the possibility of tolled lanes” which would be used “in exchange for payment”...or to be more precise, EXTRA payment.

Reports of the death of the Toll Tax have been greatly exaggerated. The very real threat of a new layer of motoring taxation is alive and kicking. The Government admitted that vile fact last week. Eventually, so did a confused and contradictory Daily Mirror.