Greens: Polluters should be charged

Tuesday, 27, May 2008 12:00

The road tax should be abolished and replaced with taxes punishing the most environmentally-unfriendly vehicles, the Green party believes.

Its chief spokesperson, Caroline Lucas, said: "The flat road tax on vehicle ownership takes no account of road usage, and provides no incentive or reward for making less polluting travel choices.

"A far fairer alternative would be to scrap it altogether and move the responsibility solely onto fuel tax, so that those who choose to drive cars with large engines and are heavy road users will pay considerably more than those who choose to drive smaller, more energy efficient cars and use public transport more often."

"Does Alistair Darling have the foresight to scrap the road tax altogether and introduce the fairer and more equitable fuel duty?"