heycar is urging the government to listen to the nation’s motorists and replace the current road tax system with one that is fairer and simpler for all.
The call from the online car marketplace comes as the first submissions have been made to the parliamentary transport committee’s inquiry into the future of road pricing.
It was established to find a solution to what is expected to be a £40billion black hole in revenue as a result of increased uptake of electric vehicles.
And as part of their submission to the inquiry, heycar commissioned extensive research by consulting over 10,000 drivers on their views on what the future of road tax should look like.
They discovered that motorists overwhelmingly favour a wholesale overhaul of the system – to make it fairer and easier to understand for all.
One in five (19 per cent) favour the introduction of a pay-per-mile system of road charging.
At the same time, over a quarter (28 per cent) of drivers say they would like a flat-rate of vehicle tax introduced – resulting in petrol, diesel, EV and hybrid owners paying exactly the same.
An increase in fuel duty was supported by 16 per cent while road tolls emerged as the least popular option – favoured by just eight per cent.
The findings also revealed that two out of three motorists were unaware that the consultation is even taking place.
Dan Powell, senior editor at heycar says: “As a result of the government’s commitment to removing polluting vehicles from the road, the road tax VED system requires a root and branch overhaul.
“Currently it’s a confusing and opaque mish-mash of various different approaches and pieces of legislation bolted together.
“Our wide-ranging consultation with over 10,000 motorists couldn’t be clearer in its findings – the system must be simplified and made fairer for all road users.
“To achieve this one in five suggest a pay-per-mile system should be adopted, while some even suggest the more radical approach of a single flat-rate of tax for all vehicles.
“An increase in road tolls also has its supporters. And while adopting a flat-rate risks disincentivizing the uptake of EVs – the government would do well to listen to what motorists tell them.
“Ultimately, drivers understand the need for the massive generational change that is upon us, but need to see the taxation system rebalanced to reflect the cars that are going to be on the roads most in the future.”
