Governments are hooked on ever-increasing motoring tax

A RECENT article detailed a considerable number of new cars, which are either already available or soon to be released, which all had very favourable fuel consumptions and were capable of travelling many miles on each gallon of fuel. Not all the models were hybrids, with a combination of both petrol and electric power, but had such advanced engine technology that figures of 75 to 80mpg were the norm.

Initially this appeared to be very good news for the under-siege and heavily-taxed motorist as, at last, there may be some relief for them in reduced fuel bills. These technologically advanced vehicles are able to cover two to three times more miles per gallon than cars regarded as fuel efficient of only 10 years ago, so could they look forward to cheaper motoring?

Sorry to disappoint them for although these advances will greatly benefit the environment, motorists should not be lulled into believing they will benefit from vastly reduced fuel bills, something that, surely, would seem inevitable.

All governments have, for the last 50 years or so, become dependent on the lucrative and never-ending supply of easy money which they have been able to obtain from a captive source – the motorist. They are totally unable to function without it and I have to wonder just how on earth they managed when car use was only for a minority and the take from fuel taxes was relatively insignificant.

Motoring taxes have made MPs lazy with no will or desire to consider other avenues of getting income when the motorist is such an easy target.

Of course, when motoring taxes were insignificant, Britain was not pouring £40m a day into European coffers; engaging in numerous military conflicts which cannot be successful; spending obscene amounts of cash on inefficient wind farms; throwing money away on useless computer schemes; never used fire control centres; foreign aid to all and sundry etc. No, then there was no safety valve of motorists’ taxes to bail out their ludicrous schemes and policies, expenditure had to be justified, thought out properly and appropriate.

So, what will happen in the near future if all family cars are capable of travelling 80 miles on each gallon of petrol? Governments will, logically, only receive less than half of the fuel taxes they currently obtain.

Wrong again! When cars become more efficient, governments will have to intervene to ensure their tax receipts don’t fall, for they simply cannot manage without the bounty of ever-increasing fuel taxes.