Electric vehicle owners to pay tax for first time under fresh Budget plans

News "not surprising", says IMI as government seeks to fill shortfall in road tax as EV ownership continues to rise

Electric vehicle owners to pay tax for first time under fresh Budget plans

Owners of electric cars will now face paying road tax as part of plans by Jeremy Hunt to fill the £54 billion hole in the country’s finances as part of his Budget, it is being reported.

The Chancellor is set to announce on Thursday changes to Treasury rules to fill the shortfall in road tax worth billions of pounds.

Steve Nash, CEO of the Institute of the Motor Industry said: “The news reported at the end of last week that the Treasury plans to add vehicle excise duty to electric cars is not surprising to most in the industry – albeit it seems slightly counter-intuitive to the government’s goal of reducing particulates.

“Clearly the reduction in revenues from road tax on Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles is a concern for government.

“But we really hope that Jeremy Hunt doesn’t just see the addition of duty on electric vehicles as a means to generate income for government coffers generally.

“The skills gap for those qualified to service and repair electric vehicles is still considerable; indeed it could actually widen rather than reduce in the next few years as a direct consequence of current financial pressures impacting businesses’ training budgets.

“While the availability of qualified technicians remains a bit of a postcode lottery, consumer confidence in making the switch to electric will be limited. And that, of course, could have a knock-on impact on the 2030 target.

“An injection of investment in training – especially for the independent sector which often feels the pinch first from an economic downturn – would certainly help tackle this issue.”

6 Comments

  1. Good, so they should. Hogging the roads. They are still polluting

    Just question is are things like milk floats still exempt

    Reply
  2. Why NOT they use the same roads as the rest of us

    Reply
  3. watch out, pushbikes next

    Reply
  4. bad time

    Reply
  5. Ha Ha….next it will be a tax on breathing

    Reply
  6. and so it goes on tax tax tax and no idea on how to run the country
    this country is a joke and all down to bad management

    Reply

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