No such thing as road tax!

Page, turn a new leaf, learn about how roads are *really* funded

Page, turn a new leaf, learn about how roads are *really* funded

Lewis Page is an intelligent bloke. He writes for The Guardian, Prospect and is a staffer on tech site The Register. An officer in the Royal Navy from 1993 to 2004, he’s siwritten books, such as Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs, a forensic polemic about financial waste in the armed forces. Page, then, is bright. He […]


Good Motoring mag gives columnist the heave-ho for ‘road tax’ gibe

Good Motoring mag gives columnist the heave-ho for ‘road tax’ gibe

Top marks to GEM Motoring Assist for its speedy retraction of the anti-cyclist article in the latest issue of the organisation’s membership-only quarterly magazine. 60,000 members were treated to a diatribe in ‘Good Motoring’ that was as inaccurate as it was distasteful. Columnist Jane King hated on both cyclists and horse-riders for daring to take […]


When motorists believe they’ve paid for use of the road, they can be dangerous

When motorists believe they’ve paid for use of the road, they can be dangerous

Some motorists believe cyclists are lesser beings, and shouldn’t get in the way of cars. Why? Because of the shockingly widespread belief that cyclists don’t pay for roads. In fact, we do. We all do. Everybody pays. Every tax-payer, that is. Road maintenance, road building and road design are all paid for out of general […]


Jeremy Clarkson: be a man, offend a Middle Eastern religion [UPDATED]

Jeremy Clarkson: be a man, offend a Middle Eastern religion [UPDATED]

On Top Gear, aired 6th February, Jeremy Clarkson made one of his deliberate errors in order to annoy a minority. Now, if he can get away with slanders about whole countries (France, Albania, Mexico etc) he’s sure as hell not going to lose any sleep over “jokes” about killing cyclists who “don’t pay road tax”. […]


Shock news: Tax Payers’ Alliance nearly accurate

Shock news: Tax Payers’ Alliance nearly accurate

Last year, the right-wing Tax Payers’ Alliance railed against ‘road tax’. Following iPayRoadTax.com complaints the “independent, non-partisan” organisation now rails against Vehicle Excise Duty. Sadly, when regurgitating parts of the TPA’s press release, The Sun yesterday went off-script and ranted about “road tax”, a tax abolished in 1937. MOTORISTS pay for their road use more […]


Keep warm with new iPayRoadTax Toastie jacket

Keep warm with new iPayRoadTax Toastie jacket

Those nice folks at Foska have produced a long-sleeve version of the iPayRoadTax jersey. And it’s a thermal jacket to boot. The Toastie jacket is suitable for use in temperatures -10° to 5°C (so, that’s now then) and is highly breathable and water resistant up to a hydrostatic head of 10,000mm (which is near as […]


Bike licensing doesn’t work, just ask Boris

Bike licensing doesn’t work, just ask Boris

Anti-cycling forum ranters the world over love to point out that motorists pay for roads (wrong!) so cyclists should steer clear, and in the same sentence, or shortly thereafter, they often bring up the ‘all cyclists should be licensed’ canard. How would this work? Number plates on the back of bikes. If only law-abiding members […]


Hoverboard Hammond screws up on long-dead tax

Hoverboard Hammond screws up on long-dead tax

He was meant to get a role overseeing the Treasury but instead David Cameron gave him the Transport brief. Yet despite being a know-it-all when it comes to the Consolidated Fund (the national coffers to you and me) Philip ‘Hoverboard’ Hammond isn’t so hot on a key duty. He ought to know that ‘road tax’ […]


RAC ignorant of how roads are funded

RAC ignorant of how roads are funded

Every year since 1988 the RAC has produced its RAC Report on Motoring. The 2010 report is laugh-a-minute. Apparently, 90 percent of drivers claim to be “law abiding” yet 31 percent admit to texting at the wheel. Did I say laugh-a-minute? Sorry, meant to say “according to the Department for Transport, distracted driving costs 31 […]


Cyclists “more dangerous” than drivers so should pay “road tax”?

Cyclists “more dangerous” than drivers so should pay “road tax”?

A councillor in Kent claims that soft, squishy cyclists are somehow more dangerous to other road users than speeding, heavy cars. Cyclists, said Larry Abraham of Sevenoaks District Council, were “more dangerous than any car I’ve ever seen.” Abraham was responding to calls for more cycling facilities in Kent. He dismissed such calls, saying “cyclists […]


Why iPayRoadTax.com?

Why iPayRoadTax.com?

iPayRoadTax.com is all about getting people to call VED car tax and not road tax but the site itself uses the wrong term. What’s going on? The site name is deliberate; ironic even. “I pay road tax, you don’t,” is an insult sometimes thrown at cyclists by motorists, a barb that says cyclists don’t pay […]


‘Road tax for cyclists’ proposal kicks up stink, again

‘Road tax for cyclists’ proposal kicks up stink, again

In the summer of 2009, a civil servant is believed to have added a line to the Scottish Government’s Cycling Action Plan for Scotland (CAPS) consultation document. This line – no doubt innocuous to the bright spark who inserted it – kicked off an almighty stink in the Scottish press and totally obscured the positives […]


Do low emission cars have less right to be on the road?

Do low emission cars have less right to be on the road?

Owners of those cars which emit the lowest amount of pollutants pay zilch for their ‘road tax’. Those motorists who think ‘road tax’ still exists must be awfully confused by cars which pay £0 VED. Here’s a class of car which looks like any other class of car but which doesn’t ‘pay for the roads.’ […]


New Year’s Resolution for major orgs: call VED ‘car tax’ not ‘road tax’

New Year’s Resolution for major orgs: call VED ‘car tax’ not ‘road tax’

The AA, Mazda, What Car, the police, the RAC, Renault, HMRC, DirectGov and others all get it wrong when they mention the long-dead ‘road tax’. This tax hasn’t paid for roads since 1936, and even then only paid for larger roads, never local ones. Even fringe groups such as the Association of British Drivers know […]


Don’t call it ‘road tax’, call it ‘car tax’. (AA, Post Office & DVLA now do)

Don’t call it ‘road tax’, call it ‘car tax’. (AA, Post Office & DVLA now do)

This site is called iPayRoadTax.com but quickly stresses there’s no such thing as ‘road tax’. It was abolished in 1937, a process started by Winston Churchill ten years previously. ‘Road tax’ might have been pushing up the daisies for 74 years but it’s a term still in widespread, erroneous use. The correct term is VED, […]


The oddly fascinating history of ‘road tax’ and the Road Fund

The oddly fascinating history of ‘road tax’ and the Road Fund

“There has been no direct relationship between vehicle tax and road expenditure since 1937.” Policy and External Communications Directorate, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) “The hypothecation of vehicle excise duty was abolished in the 1930s, although the excise licence is still sometimes mistakenly referred to as a ‘road fund licence’.” A brief history of […]


“Cyclists don’t pay road tax, they shouldn’t be on the roads; roads are for cars.”

“Cyclists don’t pay road tax, they shouldn’t be on the roads; roads are for cars.”

It’s not just right-of-Genghis-Khan taxi drivers who spout such piffle. Sensible and otherwise sane motorists also like to trot it out. “Why should my road tax pay for cycle facilities or bus lanes?” is another common complaint. Yet road tax doesn’t exist. Hasn’t done since 1937. Those little perforated discs pay for Vehicle Excise Duty. […]