Why a pay-per-mile tax on electric vehicles is the right approach - Yorkshire Post Letters

In her column,”Pay-per-mile could be the end of the road” (June 5), Jayne Dowle does not name the “new report” she seeks to discredit.

Perhaps it is “Where the rubber hits the road”, published by the Resolution Foundation this month. In any case, this report sets out the reasons why gradually introducing a new tax on vehicle road mileage is so vital.

Firstly, electric vehicle drivers pay no fuel duty, resulting in falling revenue for the Government. This is at a time public investment in transport (and many other areas) is needed more than ever.

Once electric vehicles are bought, they will still be cheaper to run than their petrol and diesel equivalents, even if per-mile road charging is introduced. This would be fair.

Whilst electric vehicles cause some pollution and there are emissions from the power stations that produce some of the electricity they use, they are generally cleaner.

They also tend to be owned by wealthier people who can better afford taxes than the average petrol or diesel vehicle owner.

Many people are facing cost of living pressures, caused by world events, as well as inequalities that recent Governments have been too slow to address.

Seeking to address those through slowing down action to address the next looming crisis, climate change, would prove a grave mistake.

A major shift from car use to more sustainable forms of transport is vital. That in no way precludes support being given to the “left-behind neighbourhoods” and others to whom Jayne Dowle refers.