You can make the same argument against public transport though. People who live in rural areas with no viable public transport options tend to be against subsidies for public transport which they themselves can’t use.
A tax on mileage/big cars is more or less already achieved through fuel duty.
The problem is that its a very unpopular tax and chancellors have a habit of using a fuel duty cut as a carrot in a budget where they’re cutting other things and/or raising other taxes.
IMO there should absolutely be a large hike in fuel duty to discourage driving ICEs. And bigger cars should have higher duties in general. I don’t really have any faith that the red tories will do anything like that however.
That’s a good point about public transport, although cars still end up massively more subsidised without people realising if you factor in externalities but it’s harder to take away subsidies than to introduce them.
The problem with fuel duty is, like you said that it has flatlined but that also, it does not cover electric cars. They still take up road space, infrastructure, cause tyre wear, etc. I understand we want to move from ICE but we should move towards a mix of public transport, e-bikes, bikes, e-scooters and walking, not just replacing ICE cars with big electric cars.
Some sort of tax difference on size and/or weight of car would be good.
I know this will never fly but I always say to my partner there should be an extra driving licence class for larger cars so they have to take a test. If you can’t keep your unnecessarily large car in a lane, park inside of a space, go around tight corners, reverse the car properly etc you shouldn’t be able to buy one. It’s crazy watching some drivers struggle with them. My partner is not confident with the size so guess what, we got a normal sized hatchback and it’s been absolutely fine!
You can make the same argument against public transport though. People who live in rural areas with no viable public transport options tend to be against subsidies for public transport which they themselves can’t use.
A tax on mileage/big cars is more or less already achieved through fuel duty.
The problem is that its a very unpopular tax and chancellors have a habit of using a fuel duty cut as a carrot in a budget where they’re cutting other things and/or raising other taxes.
IMO there should absolutely be a large hike in fuel duty to discourage driving ICEs. And bigger cars should have higher duties in general. I don’t really have any faith that the red tories will do anything like that however.
That’s a good point about public transport, although cars still end up massively more subsidised without people realising if you factor in externalities but it’s harder to take away subsidies than to introduce them.
The problem with fuel duty is, like you said that it has flatlined but that also, it does not cover electric cars. They still take up road space, infrastructure, cause tyre wear, etc. I understand we want to move from ICE but we should move towards a mix of public transport, e-bikes, bikes, e-scooters and walking, not just replacing ICE cars with big electric cars.
Some sort of tax difference on size and/or weight of car would be good.
I know this will never fly but I always say to my partner there should be an extra driving licence class for larger cars so they have to take a test. If you can’t keep your unnecessarily large car in a lane, park inside of a space, go around tight corners, reverse the car properly etc you shouldn’t be able to buy one. It’s crazy watching some drivers struggle with them. My partner is not confident with the size so guess what, we got a normal sized hatchback and it’s been absolutely fine!