England's new 'vehicle excise duty' makes car owners unhappy

Failure to clarify the “new car tax” introduced in the recent budget in England has created dissatisfaction among English car users. They complained that the budget did not clearly mention the high amount of tax which has to be paid by the polluted car owners who bought cars after March 1, 2001. In his budgetary speech, Chancellor Alistair Darling mentioned of reforming the “Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)” to encourage manufacturers to produce cleaner cars.

And he said by introducing new bands of tax there would be "an incentive to encourage drivers to choose the least polluting car."

He also said it was "right that if people choose to buy a more polluting car that they should pay more in the first year to reflect the environmental cost."

However, he did not say explicitly higher charges would apply to anyone who bought a car from 1 March 2001.

The conservative party labeled it as “duplicity.” However, England government refuted such claims. Shadow treasury minister Justine Greening was not happy with the new tax. She said that this will hurt hundreds and thousands of low-income families that can not change cars often.

The new tax system starts with thirteen tax band: A-M. M is the highest polluter who will pay £440.

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BBC