Road tax is a myth

Autocar’s editor, no less, stated in his comment of 23 February: “Unlike road tax (£7 billion raised a year), fuel duty goes straight to the central pot of government funds, rather than simply being used on roads.”

Sorry, Mr Tisshaw, but the road fund, originally set up in 1909 to fund repairs to the roads, was all but defunct by 1926 but soldiered on until 1937 when it was finally abolished, the disc in the windscreen becoming just a tax disc (now vehicle excise duty) with all funds raised from it going into the general fund of all government taxes. No tax on vehicles since then has been earmarked for spending on roads, all of which has been funded from general taxation.

Astonishingly, it’s still common for car dealers to refer to the road fund licence being included in the price of a car, despite it being nonexistent since before they were born, and there’s still the misconception among the public (and clearly Mr Tisshaw) that VED still funds the building and maintenance of roads. Norman Hawkes

Hessle, East Yorkshire

The UK government announced its intention to restore the historic direct link back in 2015, and the Department for Transport eventually confirmed it in its ‘Road Investment Strategy post 2020’ publication, stating: “From 2020/21, the government guarantees that all revenue raised from vehicle excise duty in England will be allocated to a new national roads fund and invested directly back into the strategic road network” – KC