
The Environmental Transport Association (ETA) has welcomed the likely postponement of road tax increases for cars bought before 2006.
Fury was provoked at the time of the last Budget when it was announced that from 2009, all cars that had been on the road since 2001 would face rises in vehicle excise duty (VED).
Director at the ETA, Andrew Davis said: "Higher-polluting cars should face some form of punitive taxation, but it is vital that green taxes are seen as well-thought through and fair – it’s questionable whether such a sharply-increased retrospective tax will ever be seen in that way."
MPs of all political persuasions were infuriated by the retrospective aspect of the proposed new tax which would have affected almost 70 per cent of Britain’s 26 million drivers.
The ETA has long campaigned in favour of national road user charging.
The organisation believes that such a system cut congestion, help reduce emissions and save motorists money as there would no longer be any need for fuel duty or vehicle excise duty since "most roads, most of the time, have no congestion, so many people would pay less".
Written by Trevor Coffee