It's got nothing to do with punishment, the whole idea of the current taxing system was to make people more conscious of the environmental impact of their car. If you're happy to spend £100k on the car and getting only 18mpg then spending £500 on tax isn't going to be much of a punishment, now they have effectively removed the incentive to buy a more economic and less polluting car.
Although they may have narrowed the goal posts on the cost of taxing a diesel or a petrol it will still work out Cheeper to tax a diesel from new versus an equivalent petrol car
The current system failed, it was never enough of your annual motoring costs to really matter. Those who could afford it carried on regardless, those who would appreciate an extra 100 quid a year couldn't really afford to buy an eco car anyway so had to struggle on with what they could afford. It did allow the manufacturers to market a whole raft of much more brittle cars, adding complexity and cost that will be a liability once the warranty is over but are on the whole once out of the lab only vaguely more efficient than the cars they replaced. It was a gift that kept on giving for the SMMT, I'm not surprised they are sad to see the back of it.
Regards petrol vs diesel..it's the correct direction road fund is not going to be more than 100 quid in diesels favour. It would be better if the cost the same...but it's better than them being cheaper year on year.
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