What had Ed Sheeran done wrong?

[Deeferdonk]

We are getting into semantics here and you appear to be arguing with yourself so I'm out.

Yes - i was only posting purely about semantics and the meaning of words the whole time. I think you got the wrong end of the stick but apologies if i led you the wrong way up the garden path in any sense. Peace and love.

 

[Deeferdonk]

Apologies about the use of an AI tool to gather some data, but this discussion about tax discs got me curious. It does look like there has been some loss in revenue since the withdrawal of the tax disc, (although I acknowledge that correlation does not confirm causation and the long term trends may be more connected to continued austerity and cost of living increases)

What the data shows:

• DVLA figures reported that Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) revenue fell from £6.023 billion in 2014/15 to £5.930 billion in 2015/16, a decrease of £93 million in the first full year after the paper tax disc was withdrawn. [richmondan...imes.co.uk]
• Around the same period, the proportion of unlicensed (untaxed) vehicles was reported to have increased from 0.6% in 2013 (before abolition) to 1.4% in a subsequent survey, with an estimated £80 million of potential lost revenue. [richmondan...imes.co.uk], [gov.uk]
• More recent figures still show a higher level of non-compliance than before the tax disc was removed. One report cites 1.2% of vehicles untaxed in 2023, compared with 0.6% in 2013.

 

[Dogtrousers]

although I acknowledge that correlation does not confirm causation and the long term trends may be more connected to continued austerity and cost of living increases

It's also possible that withdrawing the discs actually made the rate of increase slow down. Maybe

 

[Bristolian]

What is a "bobby on the beat"?

They had pretty well disappeared long before the tax disc did.

That may well be your experience where you live but is certainly not mine. Yes, there are fewer foot patrols nowadays but they still exist, at least here in South Gloucestershire they do. Their existence will prompt some tax dodgers to pay up even if the chances of being caught are small, just like the chances of being stopped because of ANPR. Without these small deterrences many more drivers would simply drive without paying. It's the nature of the beast, sadly.

If (I know this is never going to happen) the tax disc was reintroduced and enforcement was passed to local councils as a revenue earner the number of untaxed vehicles on our roads would drop dramatically, practically overnight. Can you imagine all those parking enforcement officers having a field day