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Taxation

Press Release: ULEZ – A Tax to Fill the Mayor’s TFL Budget Black Hole

By 10th April 2019September 1st, 2021No Comments

The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) was introduced on the 8th April in the central London zone. Non-compliant car owners will have to pay £12.50 per day in addition to the Congestion Charge (a.k.a. Tax) of £11.50. Penalties for not paying are severe. Vans and HGV vehicle drivers will pay even more and even owners of older motorcycles have to pay even though their emissions are very low. There are numerous anomalies in this tax which will particularly affect those who drive older cars who are typically the poorer members of the community. Those who drive very expensive modern supercars or luxury vehicles with large engines will not be paying even though the emissions from them are high. Those who bought diesel vehicles only a few years ago, encouraged by the Government because of their lower CO2 emissions, will now find they are paying this tax or will have to buy a new vehicle.

In reality the ULEZ is a tax designed to bolster the Mayor of London’s income to fix his mismanagement of the Transport for London budget. The tax could take over £1 billion per year out of the London economy and yet it is unlikely to significantly improve the air quality in London. Mayor Sadiq Khan claims there is a public health crisis from air pollution in London so as to justify these new taxes but that is simply not true. He is even using ill-informed children to promote his claims. In 2021 this tax will be extended to everywhere within the North/South Circular which will affect millions of car owners in London. The Alliance of British Drivers has been opposing the ULEZ scheme since it was announced. But the public is only now waking up to the ULEZ and other aspects of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy. The ABD has opposed similar schemes in Birmingham, Bath and elsewhere. Some have already been reconsidered due to local opposition, but the Mayor of London is not listening. ABD Campaign Director had this to say: “The Mayor is dressing up this new tax as a way to improve our health when it will not. It’s blatant misleading of the public by a Mayor good at rhetoric but bad at actually managing the capital’s finances. The Mayor has manufactured a false emergency so he can say that he is taking urgent and bold action to “save” people from it. Notes: To check whether your vehicle is compliant go here: https://tinyurl.com/ya4usuqr For more information see this page of the ABD’s web site covering our campaign against the Mayor’s Transport Strategy and the ULEZ, the financial facts and spurious environmental claims: https://www.freedomfordrivers.org/environment.htm

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