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'Hidden' car tax hike is "blow for poor families"

02/05/08

The government has denied claims that it concealed the full extent of car tax rises in this year's Budget, while the Association of British Drivers (ABD) is the latest to attack chancellor Alastair Darling's changes to road duties.

Mr Darling recently confirmed that older cars, those registered between 2001 and 2006, will be subject to the new tax rules - something which may interest car insurance customers.

However, motorists have expressed their anger at the supposedly 'unannounced' rules and say that the new rates will make many cars' value plummet while doubling the rate of annual road tax.

Nigel Humphries, spokesman for the ABD, said: "This impacts hardest on poorer families who need larger cars. Such families will face a double hit as their cars will plummet in value due to the tax changes."

Chairman of the ABD Brian Gregory added that although recent budgets had featured rises in car tax for less efficient vehicles, these rises had "always been restricted to new vehicles to discourage purchase and have not been retrospective".

However, the government has refuted claims that it kept the full extent of the reforms hidden from the public and a spokesman for the Prime Minister told the BBC that the Budget "had made it clear that the changes to vehicle excise duty related to all new and existing cars".

In March this year, Mr Darling announced there will be a higher band of tax for cars that emit more than 225 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre and a sliding scale of duty on cars depending on their eco-friendliness, reports the BBC.

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