Calls for classic tax re-think rebuffed

Now simply isn’t the right time, says famously classic-owning MP

The MG Car Club’s Midlands chairman, Roger King, raised tax exemption at Club Expo on 22 January, arguing that higher tax rates on modern classics is preventing younger enthusiasts from getting into classics.

He said: ‘There is a substantial number of what I would call neo-classics that are being subjected to scrappage in London, Birmingham and other provincial cities where emissions zones are being created. It seems that this opportunity to get younger people involved in classic car ownership is dwindling away.

‘Is there something that can be done to reduce the level of tax on cars of 20 or 30 years of age and give them some kind of discount? Should enthusiasts not pay a little less – perhaps a halving of what they currently pay? A graduated historic vehicle tax might be the gateway for many youngsters to join us in this great movement.’

Sir Greg Knight MP said that he backed the current rolling exemption for classics when they reach 40 years old and thinks that it is unlikely that tax from modern classics will be used to subsidise electric cars: ‘We didn’t feel that we could battle for that at the moment, when the government is trying to recoup revenues lost as a result of the pandemic. To ask for a further concession is not going to get us anywhere at the present time.

‘I take the point that these newer vehicles are in a sort of limbo and many are being scrapped, but hopefully there are enough people around to keep them going until they reach the threshold of Historic Vehicle status.’

❚ historicvehicles.org.uk