SCRAPPED: Tax disc is on the way out
Motorists are offering overwhelming support for the government’s plan to scrap tax discs, a poll by Motorpoint has shown.
The survey found 60.6% of drivers backed George Osborne’s decision to axe the disc after more than 90years in favour of an online-only system.
Under the new online system people will also, for the first time, be able to pay their road tax by monthly direct debit.
Motorists without internet access will still be able to tax their cars by telephone or in person at their local post office.
Mark Carpenter, Managing Director of Motorpoint, said: “The tax disc is part of the fabric of motoring and I am sure it will take some getting used to not having it on show in our windscreens.
“However, with the widespread use of real-time online systems by the police and other agencies to combat avoidance, the role of the tax disc has become largely symbolic and based on the results of our poll it doesn’t seem that too many drivers will be that sad to see it disappear.”
Image courtesy of Nick in exsilio, with thanks.
Tony Harrington
( Thursday, January 16, 2014 - 16:45 )
Just scrap RFL altogether, fuel already costs a bloody fortune and our roads are in an appalling state… WHERE IS MY MONEY GOING?
Nick Simpson
( Thursday, January 16, 2014 - 12:38 )
What proof do we have that we’ve paid our tax if an officer says we haven’t. Many people get stopped for having no insurance when they have because the different police forces don’t always invest in the computer kit or have up to date information. Possibly because it’s not as profitable as speeding tickets.
In these instances you produce your insurance cert at the local station. If we get a road tax cert online why not just keep the tax disc????
Driving licences are going on line too – with no hard copies of anything. That’ll be fun, especially when the DVLA have been heavily criticised for their lack of data & records management in the past.
John
( Thursday, January 9, 2014 - 13:28 )
Not so keen on the idea, how is the general public to know when a vehicle is taxed or not? Just recently had to call the council / police to remove what amounted to 7 vehicles from the road outside our depot, all un-licensed! how did I know, I looked in the windscreen.
Do traffic wardens carry the technology needed? probably not, I know our local ones don’t.
I can see a large loss in revenue looming in the future as more people abuse the system.
Also when buying a vehicle you are not going to know how much a year its road fund licence is unless you carry a list and check with what it states in the logbook.
Another sideline was that if it was recently taxed then it normally had an MOT.
Mel Bland
( Thursday, January 9, 2014 - 12:28 )
Think it is a good idea but how will it be enforced by those motorists who avoid paying – not displaying a tax disc – more motorists will avoid payment as it will be more difficult to control so increasing prices for the ‘honest’ motorists amongst us!!