You don't pay road tax

[Typo]

After reading all of this thread, if anyone accuses me of not paying road tax I think I'd fall off me bike laughing.

 

[campbellab]

'The roads have taken my blood, toil, tears and sweat, what more tax do you wish from me?'

 

[PBancroft]

But you must pay tax to drive on the road (with VED lower for smaller cars) but having to pay fuel tax (duty). Which MAY be what motorists mean when they say 'road tax'

It isn't, but if it is ever argued that this is the case (and I think it is the issue you have) it is worth remembering that fuel tax is a tax on fuel. Specifically it is Hydrocarbon oil duty, and that some vehicles receive a rebate - specifically bus operators. Would you suggest that cars have a greater right to use the road than buses as well?

The Fuel Price Escalator was a means to reduce the number of cars on the road. Ironically it could be argued that it is the fuel protests which caused the current situation, as it forced the Government's hand in no longer raising prices so steeply. In other words, fuel is now just affordable enough for people to continue to see driving as a viable option, whereas if it had continued more people would have found alternative and cheaper forms of transport and wouldn't have to pay this so-called stealth tax at all.