Buyers of 4x4s and sports cars will be forced to pay up to £950 for their first year's tax disc, under plans revealed in yesterday's Budget.
In subsequent years the road excise duty for the vehicles will still be as high as £455, compared with £300 now. By contrast, low-polluting cars including the Toyota Prius will go tax free.
New bands
All vehicles will be taxed on a sliding scale of 13 new bands with charges ranging from zero to £455. The top six categories will be punished with sharply rising duties.
The 'showroom tax' targets so-called Chelsea Tractors such as Land Rovers , Toyota Land Cruisers and high-performance sports cars such as Porsches . These vehicles are blamed for high emissions of carbon dioxide - the greenhouse gas linked to global warming.
The 13 road tax bands will replace the existing A to G categories from 2009/10. The new top band M - for cars emitting more than 255g of carbon dioxide a kilometre - faces the £455 annual charge from 2010-11 and £950 in the first year only. This would affect 4.2 litre models of the Range Rover.
> External link: Best new cars on CO2
What about family cars?
Owners of some family cars - including the two-litre Ford Mondeo - will find themselves in the top six bands. They will pay £260 from next year - a rise of £90. From 2010, the first year's tax on a new Mondeo will be £425 and £270 annually for older models.
Why the change?
The Chancellor said he wanted to crack down hard on the 'dirtiest' cars because Britain 's 30 million vehicles accounted for 22% of the country's carbon emissions.
And what about my car?
Cars such as the Mini Cooper 1.6, Peugeot 307 1.6 and Vauxhall Corsa 1.3, which all emit no more than 150g of carbon a kilometre, will pay less tax. Cars in the free category with the Prius include the VW Polo BlueMotion , Honda Civic Hybrid , Peugeot 107 Urban , Citroen C1 and the Mini Diesel .
Band G will become the midway mark and take in many family cars including the Honda Accord 2.2i . This class will escape the highest levies. Mr Darling said: 'If people choose to buy a more polluting car they should pay more in the first year to reflect the environmental cost. The changes will provide a real incentive to manufacturers and motorists.'
Cars registered before March 2001 do not qualify for the graded car tax and fall in two categories for 2008/9 VED - below 1549cc (£120) and above 1549cc (£180).
>> External link: Government calculator - Look up the CO2 emissions for your car (new cars on sale)
>> External link: Alternative calculator - Look up the CO2 emissions for your car (all cars since March 2001)
And then see how much it will cost you from April 2009 ...
Band M - (255+ CO2 g/km) - £440 road tax
Band L - (225-255)- £415 road tax
Band K - (200-225) - £300 road tax
Band J - (181-200) - £260 road tax
Band I - (171-180) - £205 road tax
Band H - (161-170) - £175 road tax
Band G - (151-160) - £150 road tax
Band F - (141-150) - £120 road tax
Band E - (131-140) - £110 road tax
Band D - (120-130) - £90 road tax
Band C - (120-110) - £30 road tax
Band B - (110-100) - £20 road tax
Band A - (-100) - no road tax
|
