Lizban said:
BUT a motorist to use the road must pay tax - (either VED if requried or fuel duty) - The common parlance for this is 'road tax' - technically not correct for the reason you and others have listed but a neat little short hand.
Therefore to drive he must pay a tax that cyclists don't. So the simple reply of saying to the motorist you are wrong I think is in fact incorrect. Hence the point of this discussion
The point of saying "wrong" isn't just a semantic argument. A cyclist does pay for the road, through alternative means of taxation. VED is graduated, so lower emitting vehicles pay less tax as others have pointed out. If bikes were to be taxed, their rate would be £0. The reason that drivers pay this, and cyclists don't, is pretty much a no-brainer - it would cost much more to implement and run than would ever be recouped should cyclists be taxed, because the income would be exactly £0.
Similarly, cyclists don't pay tax on fuel, because they don't use fuel except what they eat (which may already be taxed at various points in its production). The Fuel Price Escalator was introduced as a means of stemming pollution and road building - more cars means more and bigger roads whilst bikes take up comparatively little space. Don't forget that fuel duty is actually 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?
There is an argument to suggest that red diesel should be taxed because the effect of its use is the same as other fuels - but that is hardly the fault of the cyclist.
Yes, drivers might feel that they have to pay when cyclists don't, and they may feel that this is unfair. It doesn't make them right, and in my humble opinion they are not.
They don't need to know the fuel you want is CAKE!
