Budget 2006: Brown turns green? - Reaction: AA Motoring Trust

The AA Motoring Trust said the new top Vehicle Excide Duty (VED) tax band was a punitive measure that would hit far more motorists than those just behind the wheel of 4x4s. It said family cars, sports cars and even top-of-the-range superminis would be subject to the extra £45 a year.

Paul Watters, the AA Trust's head of roads and transport policy, said: 'The AA Motoring Trust was happy to accept a marginal increase in VED for cars above 250 g/km to encourage a switch to cleaner versions, but people who need these types of vehicle, such as the rural communities and large families, will be hit by an extra £45 tax.'

The AA Trust said it was also disappointed to see that the £10 VED surcharge for diesel car owners wasn't scrapped, and that mileage rates for motorists using their own car for work weren't increased from today's 40p per mile threshold. It said health and voluntary care workers were suffering from the unreasonably low mileage allowance.

Watters said: 'The failure to raise the taxable mileage rate for private cars used on business protects the employers of three million workers from rising car fuel prices while, in effect, docking the wages of their employees.'

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