Abolish road tax for bikes

[ddtwelve]

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36449
ive signed have you??

[VNA - BMW Wank]

Nope.

I'd be in favour of abolishing Road Fund Tax altogether and raising the shortfall by placing the tax on fuel. 

[Tcat2001]

Why? Most if not all zero tax cars piss all over bikes in terms of mpg and pollutants. Next argument?

[Tcat2001]

Now if there was a sensible petition to sign that presses for more of the VED and fuel tax to be used to improve roads and the road network that would be worth signing

[dazza]

I for one do think that the road tax on a 1 litre bike is excessive.
 

[bri h]

Hard to believe a bike causes more damage to roads than any four wheeled vehicle and we tend to keep moving so polute less. Im not so concerned about the cost of road tax as what they spend it on.

[Streetbudgie]

Already got free tax on one of mine and insurance is a steal - just have to ride a classic (there's no law about upgrades either)

[peterjca]

Perhaps if manufacturers concentrated on making their bikes far more fuel efficient, then there'd be a reason for much lower or even zero VED.

[chris.biker]

In the present climate I think it would be best not to get their thoughts onto the subject of bike tax!

[Grahamm]

I'd be in favour of abolishing Road Fund Tax altogether

You're about three quarters of a century too late, because Road Fund Licence was abolished in 1936 when it was replaced by Vehicle Excise Duty!

[simonm]

Now if there was a sensible petition to sign that presses for more of the VED and fuel tax to be used to improve roads and the road network that would be worth signing

Definitely.

[goldfazer]

Ah - someone who wants something for nothing. Spot the Thatcher hater

[simonm]

Ah - someone who wants something for nothing. Spot the Thatcher hater

Not entirely fair. If you did abolish road tax for bikes there would be fewer cars going around with a single person in them, much more rider awareness and fewer traffic jams. There is some logic there. Of course it probably wouldn't work and the price of fuel would go up but I'm all for paying per mile. The more you use the road, the more you should pay.

[simonm]

Iirc most if the price of fuel is tax anyway...?

[goldfazer]

I agree - some form of 'insurance/mot' disc (could be done with ANPR I guess) and more tax on fuel makes much more sense. I'd bet better of - 3k in the cage and about 1 mile on the Fazer last year........

[simonm]

I'd be all for raising the speed limit on the motorway and making penalties for exceeding the speedlimit in a built up area worse too. No one should speed in a 20/30/40 zone (including coppers imo)

[peterjca]

Ah - someone who wants something for nothing. Spot the Thatcher hater

But I thought the bankers and the financial "industry" loved Thatcher?

[simonm]

Road tax shouldn't be a political issue, the conclusions should be based on science and logic.

[goldfazer]

Quite possibly. But they don't sit on thier arses all day moaning that thier benefits aren't enough, or go on strike for more money. They go out and earn it. I accept that there's a good chunk who are overpaid, but the majority aren't. And the industry does bring in a huge amount of tax revenue into the UK.

[goldfazer]

'Road tax shouldn't be a political issue, the conclusions should be based on science and logic. ' 

And economics.

trouble is, as it's seen as a tax, it will always be political.

[Lawrence]

Not entirely fair. If you did abolish road tax for bikes there would be fewer cars going around with a single person in them, much more rider awareness and fewer traffic jams. There is some logic there. Of course it probably wouldn't work and the price of fuel would go up but I'm all for paying per mile. The more you use the road, the more you should pay.

No it wouldn't.  £55 a year isn't enough to make someone get a bike licence and buy a bike, probably in addition to their car.  There wouldn't be more rider awareness and less jams either, there'd just be a lot more people riding their Vespas around on a CBT and having accidents.

[richfzs]

That in itself would increase awareness though (albeit after an initial increase in accidents)

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[simonm]

Not entirely fair. If you did abolish road tax for bikes there would be fewer cars going around with a single person in them, much more rider awareness and fewer traffic jams. There is some logic there. Of course it probably wouldn't work and the price of fuel would go up but I'm all for paying per mile. The more you use the road, the more you should pay.

No it wouldn't.  £55 a year isn't enough to make someone get a bike licence and buy a bike, probably in addition to their car.  There wouldn't be more rider awareness and less jams either, there'd just be a lot more people riding their Vespas around on a CBT and having accidents.

That depends on how much the price of fuel goes up. Maybe you're right. I'm too bleh to argue.

[thecert]

As has been pointed out the tax is now known as Vehicle Excise Duty and I believe just go's into the pot with all our other tax's, when it was originally brought in the Road Tax went to the up keep of our roads. I personally would like to see it put back to being called road tax and used to maintain the third world condition of our terrible roads. Get our roads back to a good standard and stop keep patching them, it's only force economy doing so costing a dam site more in the long run because they just don't last. Do this and I would be quite happy to pay this particular tax where as at the moment I agree with many of your sentiments of it being unfair for motor cycles.