I don’t pay road tax but I use the roads.

How cheeky am I?

Every time I leave the house, I use some of Britain’s roads.  Sometimes I use them as a pedestrian, sometimes as a cyclist, sometimes as a bus passenger and sometimes as a car driver, and yet I pay no road tax at all.

What I do pay is car tax.  This tax is not my ticket for exclusive use of the roads, but a tax which reflects that my car releases pollutants.  If I chose to drive a car with a smaller, cleaner engine then I would pay less tax, or even no tax at all.  If I chose to drive a car with a larger, more polluting engine then I would pay more tax.

So the next time you hear someone saying that car drivers should have priority on the roads because they pay road tax, bear in mind that it’s rubbish.  The roads are for the benefit of everyone, whatever their mode of transport, and vehicle tax merely reflects how antisocial that mode of transport is.

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