http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20822724

Guess what? All those taxes you've been paying haven't been spent on the roads! But here's some friends of ours!

Chances are that it will deliver even more profits for the backer and yet more misery for most motorists.

No private initiative has anyone's interests at hand other than their own or the shareholders. I would prefer that the majority (>75%) of that £50bn from road tax should be spent on improving roads, road conditions etc.

You do realise that I think it is as little as 25% is spent on roads? That would mean even deeper cuts elsewhere including the NHS.

Any Plc is legally required to put it's shareholder's interests before any others.

The bare fact is roads are just as much of an important resource to society as a whole as hospitals or schools or the police. The amount of money that has been hived off road repair budgets - both at national and local level - in the last decade or so is an utter scandal. But as we're talking about nasty, polluting, polar bear killing cars the authorities have been able to pass it off, a basic case of 'greenwashing' that far too many people have fallen for.

I'd be happy, in fact I'd be ecstatic, if every car in the UK ran on renewable electric power tomorrow. But we'd still need the same roads and they'd still need to be maintained. If we get this weather followed by a period of frost, christ knows what the road network will end up looking like.

I used to cycle a lot and even cyclists like the roads to be smooth and well maintained. So yes I am all for better road maintenance but the problem is going to get worse as councils. All these schemes are just a way of transferring money to private companies who in turn skim a little back to the politicians who need funding to get re-elected.

I don't mind paying tolls for bridges/tunnels, but I refuse to pay road tolls. I pay enough road tax and fuel duty to pay roads as it is.

I do not have a car but I do agree with you.

It is a bone of contention in the Dartford area that the QEII bridge and tunnels were promised to be toll free once the bridge was paid for, which is was a few years back. Since then, the tolls have increased instead of being abolished.

Governments will justify that on the basis of ongoing maintenance costs of the bridge of tunnel as a reason for not abolishing it. Since it as a tax would only hit those that use it then it would appear to be fair.

The problem is motoring taxation is in reality anything but 'fair'.

Look at one example - fuel duty is imposed on fuel production high up the supply chain. This causes the price at the pump to increase. Then at the pump VAT is charged on the fuel as it is dispensed. This VAT is increased because of the duty charged earlier, so the government is effectively taxing people on the money they pay in tax. This also means of course that when the government increases fuel duty (as they have until recently under the fuel duty escalator) they can say 'the increased fuel duty brought in by this is £X' but in fact the total increase in taxation on the motorist is £X+20%, due to the extra VAT paid on that increased fuel duty. I can't think of any definition of the word by which all this could be described as fair.

That's before we even get into how motoring-related taxation is spent. One thing we do know - if we all went out and bought electric cars tomorrow, the state would be absolutely [LIFTED].

Jon

There was talk years ago of taking the government to court as you couldn't charge Value Added Tax on duty as it had no value. The government turned round and said, 'Well if we lose we'll just increase the duty to compensate for the VAT reduction.' So it never went to court as there was no point.

Motorists are taxed quite heavily and only 25% of vehicle and fuel taxes raised is actually spent on roads. It is also why governments hate the idea of hypothecation. Smokers also pay far more, so should smokers get preferential treatment in hospitals? In the US they blocked the import of high efficiency cars into the country because it would seriously impact the raising of fuel taxes which is hypothecated for road repairs. Once electric vehicles start to take off they will change the tax system to raise more from electricity or an annual road tax.