You don't pay road tax

[skwerl]

Not true.
Some motorists get along fine without paying VED, and by using red diesel.

tractor-driving teuchters don't count as motorists. they're only s'posed to be on the road to get from field A to field B

 

[summerdays]

I've been involved in two scenarios in the last couple of years:

Scenario 1:

Bloke driving car: "You don't pay road tax."

Me: "I pay road tax (sic) on my car at home."

Bloke - after a confused hesitation, and not wanting to be trumped: "But you don't pay road-tax on your bike."

Neither does a pedestrian on their shoes

 

[goo_mason]

Can we make Jacko's post a sticky for what to do when challenged about road tax ?

I have tears running down my face and I hurt from the suppressed hysterical laughter !

 

[HJ]

So how does a motorist drive on the road and not pay tax?

(don't forget fuel duty before spurting the £0 VED band line )

You choose to drive, you choose to pay the extra tax, it has nothing to do with using the road, I pay duty on the fuel I use to heat my house, heating my house is my choice, I don't go around berating people have wood burning stoves because they "don't pay tax"...

 

[Crankarm]

"Look mate if you feel so strongly about it I suggest you write a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I hazard a guess they will file your letter in the waste paper bin. Me I'm just trying to get to where I want to go so kindly get out my way."

"Look I'm just an ordinary chap exercising my right to be on this piece of road at this time. You probably beat your dog and starve your goldfish so leave me out of your petty quarrels."

"Does your nappy need changing?"

 

[HJ]

Let me try and explain this again - what you say is clearly correct to a point

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

No, there is a flaw in your argument, driver don't have to use motor vehicle in order to use the road, they choose to use motor vehicle and therefore they choose to pay extra tax. So they should stop whining about it, it is they own choice, they can blame us for it. It is really very simple...

 

[malkie]

Only time I had this one was from a "colleague" at work .
"You don`t pay road tax" was met with "I pay more than you f*ckwit"

Keep it simple , he wouldn`t have understood a reasoned argument...and I knew my car is higher rated than his.

 

[mm101]

I don't think the 'you don't pay tax' comments deserve any kind of riposte at all.

Saying that to a complete stranger, minding their own business is 1) rude 2) mean spirited 3) petty minded. Anyone petty minded enough to do such a thing is not going to be open minded enough to take on board the counter-argument and are likely to have a selfish mindset generally.

There is room for all. We all have to learn to fit in with each other and share

 

[Lizban]

I don't think the 'you don't pay tax' comments deserve any kind of riposte at all.

Saying that to a complete stranger, minding their own business is 1) rude 2) mean spirited 3) petty minded. Anyone petty minded enough to do such a thing is not going to be open minded enough to take on board the counter-argument and are likely to have a selfish mindset generally.

There is room for all. We all have to learn to fit in with each other and share

Agree.

What about to a colleague or other non cyclist person who yuo can have a conversation with

 

[Arch]

Agree.

What about to a colleague or other non cyclist person who yuo can have a conversation with

<sigh> Haven't we given you pages and pages of conversation you can have?

 

[manalog]

IHMO I dont think these people deserve a reply, just cycle on. I think they are so small minded that an explanation is just not worth a To55.

 

[Lizban]

The thread seems to be dying of natural causes so I'll summarize (hopefully not to controversially! )

There is no tax called 'road tax'. (with funding coming from general taxation.)
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'

If shouted at along these lines on the road generally not worth responding.

However if in conversation with a reasonable person about this lines to use

Range from agreeing with the person and confirming that is (yet another) advantage of cycling to how on earth would you police it?

 

[Landslide]

To summarise:

There is no tax called 'road tax'. (with funding coming from general taxation.)
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's not.

 

[jay clock]

[Ignoring the semantics of the expression "road tax"...]

To "you don't pay road tax" my answer is "yes I do", becuase like many cyclists I also have a car along with my 6 bikes....

Havig said that, no-one has ever said it to me.....

 

[jezhiggins]

I use to hitch a lot and truck drivers usually mentioned that they paid over a grand for 'road tax' and therefore should have more right to the road than cars

You were lucky. I always seemed to end up with the ones who listened to country music.