A man puts fuel in his car as drivers queue at a petrol station in London, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. Long lines of vehicles have formed at many gas stations around Britain since Friday, causing spillover traffic jams on busy roads. (Frank Augstein via CFP)
A man puts fuel in his car as drivers queue at a petrol station in London, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. Long lines of vehicles have formed at many gas stations around Britain since Friday, causing spillover traffic jams on busy roads. (Frank Augstein via CFP)
UK's tax revenue losses are projected to total 35 billion British pounds (47.4 billion U.S. dollars) when petrol-powered vehicles are phased out by 2030, lawmakers on the Transport Committee of the House of Commons, the lower house of the British Parliament, warned in a report on Friday.
"The ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 will result in a corresponding decline in two significant sources of Treasury revenue. As sales of electric vehicles increase, Treasury revenue from motoring taxation will decrease, because neither fuel duty nor vehicle excise duty is currently levied on electric vehicles," said the report titled "Road Pricing."
The committee has called for a new road pricing system under which motorists would pay for every kilometer they travel.
Such a system, based on distance traveled and vehicle type, would enable the government to maintain the existing link between motoring taxation and road usage, the report said.
Without reform, the report added, policies to deliver net zero emissions by 2050 will result in zero revenue for the government from motoring taxation.
Lawmakers on the committee recommend that the Treasury and the Department for Transport join forces to examine solutions and devise a new road charging mechanism by the end of 2022.
"We need to talk about road pricing," committee Chair Huw Merriman said. "Innovative technology could deliver a national road pricing scheme, which prices up a journey based on the length of road and type of vehicle used. Work should begin without delay. The situation is urgent. New taxes, which rely on new technology, take years to introduce."
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency