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Historic vehicle Excise duty

What a load of rubbish.

21 June 2007

We received a petition asking:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to change the tax exemption laws for historic motor cars."

Details of Petition:

"Currently cars have to have been constructed before a set date - the 1st January 1973 to be eligible for historic car tax exemption. We the undersigned would like the date to be move as it has been fixed for a number of years. A number of cars which were built in British factories are becoming few and far between and would like the Government to help preserve these cars by offering and extension on the current exemption date."

a.. Read the petition b.. Petitions home page Read the Government's response The Government is committed to using Vehicle Excise Duty as a means of bringing environmental factors into consideration when people choose to take ownership of a car. Vehicle Excise Duty also helps to support the Government's wider policy objectives by providing a valuable source of revenue from which important public services may be funded.

The Government recognises that many historic car owners would have been disappointed when the 1998 Budget decision was made to freeze the rolling 25 year exemption at 1973. However, the Government continues to judge that in the light of its environmental focus for Vehicle Excise Duty it would be inappropriate to extend the exemption at this point in time.

It should be noted that the current exemption remains in force, currently benefiting some 307,407 vehicles, many of which will be maintained in careful preservation by their owners. The exemption applies equally to all historic cars built before January 1973 irrespective of their country of manufacture.

Some other types of historic vehicle are also exempt from payment of Vehicle Excise Duty. This Government decided to make all steam powered vehicles exempt from April 2001, benefiting vehicles like preserved steam powered road rollers and traction engines. Historic lorries built before 1973 are also exempt, provided that they are not used commercially.

The Government believes that it has got the balance right in the current exemptions it offers. In considering the case for further exemptions or changes to existing ones the Government has to consider the stability of its tax measures, the consistency of its environmental signal, and the costs of delivery - these would include initial implementation costs and ongoing administrative costs.

Further Information

Reply to
Pete Aldous
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"Pete Aldous" wrote.............

IIRC there was never any intention to roll on the exemptions and the cut off date should have stayed at 1st January 1970 as vehicles made after that date were neither considered to be historic nor built to last, but to move forward in their efforts to register the status of every vehicle it was the best option without penalising museums etc. who hardly actually used their vehicles on the roads and to stop people storing any old crap until it was old enough to qualify.

Oily

Reply to
Oily

IIRC the exemption was originally a sop to keep the historic vehicle lobby off the Government of the day's back when some form of continuous VED (i.e. a charge for any vehicle whether in use or not) was proposed. As it was, that never happened and we ended up with SORN. My reply to the petition would run something like; The cut-off date can only ever be arbitrary as 'historic' means too many things to different people 1973 is as good (or bad) as any other. But of course the mealy mouthed apologist charged with reponding had to drag "environmental factors" into it - which, together with "health and safety implications" are the current stock excuses for practically everything.

Nick H.

Reply to
Nick H

Gentlemen,

All I can say is it saves me a serious amount of money each year, had it not been in force I could never have considered running my current vehicle on the road. As to storing heaps of crap people forget that we still have to have an MOT and the brakes are still tested on the same rolling road as a modern car and have to comply with the same test readings etc. I don't have to have an emissions test but if the car puffs blue smoke its a fail and all the other safety gear has to work. I would suggest that my car is better maintained than most modern cars because the service periods are shorter, spares are scarce and to preserve it I have to look after it. My daily drive has a service period 18,000 miles so if it goes out of tune or the brakes stick its a long time before the garage see's it and it gets fixed.

Reply to
campingstoveman

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