BRIEFING PAPER Number SN01482, 23 November 2017 By Louise Butcher Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) Inside: 1. Brief history of vehicle taxation 2. Car tax 3. Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) 4. Motorcycles 5. Exemptions 6. Evasion 7. Appendix: VED rates, 1910- 2001 www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library |
[email protected] | @commonslibrary Number SN01482, 23 November 2017 2 Contents Summary 3 1. Brief history of vehicle taxation 4 The early years 4 The end of hypothecation 6 Later arguments for abolition 6 Arguments for graduation on environmental basis 7 2. Car tax 8 2.1 Labour’s policies for linking VED rates to emissions, 1997-2010 8 2.2 Policies of the Conservatives in government, 2010- 10 Abolition of the paper tax disc from 1 October 2014 11 VED reform and the return of the Road Fund, 2017- 13 Changes to VED rates for diesel cars, 2018 16 2.3 Cars registered between January 1973 and March 2001 19 2.4 Classic vehicles 20 3. Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) 21 4. Motorcycles 24 5. Exemptions 25 6. Evasion 27 6.1 Licensing and registration 27 6.2 Detection and enforcement 28 7. Appendix: VED rates, 1910-2001 30 Contributing Authors: Louise Butcher, Transport Policy Cover page image copyright: Discs by Bart Maguire via Flickr/Creative Commons [cropped] 3 Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) Summary This briefing paper explains the policies of successive governments towards the setting and design of vehicle excise duty (VED) for cars and other vehicles. It gives information as to the exemptions from payment and how the Government enforces its collection.