Road distance charging is over-complicated

1) too many vehicles in Guernsey, and

2) electric cars contributing nothing towards the fuel duty.

Road distance charging is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It will result in a huge complication if a tracking device needs to be added to every vehicle, or road toll monitors on every road. (In the UK I knew someone who had a tracker fitted to his company car so the company could monitor where he was at all times but he said it kept failing, or falling off – especially when hit with a hammer.)

The current system of just having the fuel duty unfairly taxes those people who need to travel a lot for their work e.g. small businesses, carers, or people who live far away from their work. Road distance charging will just repeat this. Also, the current system does not discourage people from owning multiple vehicles.

Ask yourselves: ‘Where are all the 87,430 registered vehicles for a population of 63,423 (March 2021 figure which includes Herm and Jethou) parked when they are not being driven?’ Of the 87,430 registered vehicles, only 64,300 are estimated to actually use the roads.

It is glaringly obvious to me that there should be a much reduced fuel duty coupled with applying motor vehicle duty to every road vehicle. If applied properly it would be a much fairer system. It could be made cheaper for those who need to travel a lot – since more people would share the tax burden. It would also bring in a tax which is not being collected at the moment and help to fill the tax hole we keep being told about.

Since all road vehicles are (or should be) registered then collecting motor vehicle duty these days can be automated like it is in the UK – with larger, more polluting vehicles paying more. The issuing and displaying of paper tax discs in the UK was stopped many years ago for simplicity.

Even a basic motor vehicle tax of £165 per year for 87,430 vehicles would result in over £14.4m. I can’t see a precise figure for how much fuel duty provides the States of Guernsey in tax but in Guernsey Facts And Figures 2022, Table 2.5: Direct and indirect taxation (nominal, £m.) shows Motor Vehicle duties list at only £1m income for the year 2021. I understand fuel duty is currently 73.4p/litre and for a person driving say 3000 miles/year in Guernsey with a petrol/diesel vehicle achieving an average of eight miles/litre (in Guernsey) pays £275/year in fuel duty. If this person paid £165 for their motor vehicle duty and a fuel duty of only 30p/litre i.e. 43.4p less than they do now, they would see no difference in their tax. But it would be a much fairer system, encourage less vehicle ownership and would result in people paying tax who don’t pay now – like me with my electric car.

We have to pay a standing charge for connection to the electricity supply network – this helps pay for the infrastructure no matter how much, or how little electricity we use. The same idea of a standing charge (motor vehicle duty) should apply to all vehicles for the privilege of drivers being able to use the road infrastructure.

All vehicles (even electric cars) produce pollution from tyre wear. Tyre rubber contains carcinogens. The pollutants that tyres create are in the form of airborne micro particles which are breathed in, or larger particles which then run off the roads to pollute our water supply or the sea. Just a few simple sums of the number of vehicles, distance travelled and tyre wear will reveal a frightening amount of this pollution.

The States has been deliberating about distance charging for a long time (see their Taxation Of Motoring of 12 June 2019). I wonder how much more time and effort has already been expended on this subject – with no outcome so far.

Forget the complication of distance charging, and remember the acronym Kiss which I was told when I was at work (Keep it simple, stupid).

NB If any of my calculations are wrong I am happy to be corrected.

GRAHAM LE FLEM

grahamleflem@gmail.com