By Peter Finch
The government has formally confirmed plans to introduce a “pay-per-mile” road tax starting in April 2028. Titled Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED), the scheme will initially charge electric car owners 3p per mile and plug-in hybrid drivers 1.5p per mile, verified annually through the MOT database.
While pitched as a policy targeting electric vehicles to offset declining fuel duty revenues, pay-per-mile taxation represents a fundamental shift toward tracking, auditing, and restricting personal mobility for all British drivers.
The Stealth Tax on Mobility
The average UK motorist covers roughly 7,000 to 10,000 miles per year. Under the new 3p per mile system, this introduces an additional £210 to £300 annual charge on top of existing road tax. For rural residents, trade workers, and families who rely on personal vehicles due to inadequate public transport, these costs accumulate rapidly.
History demonstrates that once an administrative mechanism for per-mile tracking is established, expansion becomes inevitable:
- Expanding Scope: While starting with electric cars, the infrastructure creates a ready-made framework to tax petrol, diesel, and commercial vehicles by distance in future budgets.
- Inflationary Increases: Rates are already expected to increase annually in line with inflation, turning personal transport into an escalating revenue stream for the Treasury.
- Bureaucratic Intrusion: Requiring citizens to pre-estimate annual mileage, submit odometer audits, and face reconciliation bills turns ordinary car ownership into an annual state audit.
Taxing Freedom of Movement
For decades, British motorists have faced relentless cost increases through fuel duty, insurance taxes, parking levies, low-emission zones, and now direct mileage tracking.
Automobile ownership provides working-class families and rural communities with essential independence and economic mobility. Treating private vehicle use as a privilege to be metered and taxed by central government penalises commuters and undermines local economies.
The British Democrats Position
The British Democrats oppose stealth taxation on personal transport and stand for the protection of British motorists:
- Scrapping Pay-Per-Mile Schemes: Cancel the implementation of eVED and prohibit the introduction of pay-per-mile tracking for all personal vehicles.
- Defending Personal Mobility: Protect the freedom of private car ownership against continuous state metering, surveillance, and artificial cost increases.
- Supporting Rural & Working Communities: Protect motorists in rural towns and villages who have no viable public transport alternatives from punitive transport taxes.
- Prioritising Domestic Infrastructure: Reallocate existing motoring tax revenues directly into repairing broken road surfaces and upgrading local transport links, rather than creating new tax-collection bureaucracies.
Personal transport is an essential right, not a revenue tap for central government. The British Democrats will continue to stand against the war on motorists and demand real relief for British drivers.
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Promoted by the British Democrats, PO Box 11028, Loughborough, LE12 7YL.
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