Budget 2007: Your say

22 March 2007

See readers' comments on the Budget
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Band G cars, which includes some 4x4s face increased VED - read what you say about it

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We asked for your reactions to Chancellor Gordon Brown's Budget. Below is a selection of the e-mails we have received.

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I am furious about this - typical politicians who swan around in V8 Jags at the expense of tax payers.

I drive a Subaru Forester XT and only do 3000 miles a year. We are already paying for the choice of a nice car by the tax on fuel - now anyone with a nice car is punished, even though, due to my mileage, I emit considerably less car emissions than others in far lower band cars doing an average mileage of 12,000 miles per annum! This is not fair!

I would, however, take this, should the hypocritical politicians all drive around in electric cars!
Alex Grey

This still misses the point. It doesn't tax you for what you use, just what you own, and surely that's wrong.

But what else would you expect!
Arthur Cobhil

If he wants to be seen as green, why not do more on biofuels?
Grahame Dawson

Once Band G cars have been forced from the road, those in Band F can get ready, they'll be next.
Darrell McPherson

I drive a Toyota RAV4 4X4 which is in band F - 193g/km of carbon dioxide - and I thought that its value would nose-dive and be a liability. But a £10 rise for two years followed by a £5 rise for two years is a relief.
Frank Spivey

I think this is a fair and intelligent budget. I was on the verge of buying a 4x4, and even though the rise in tax on Band G VED cars is tiny compared to the cost of the vehicle, this is about the signal it sends. It is probably enough to nudge me into buying a more fuel-efficient car - exactly what the policy is intended to do
CW, Yorkshire

I feel that the proposed tax increase based on so-called green issues is grossly unfair. I drive a Kia Sedona, which is classed as group F as far as I know; this being one removed from the top of the scale.

Yes, it's a big car. But is it fair to tax families in this way? My partner and I have five children. This is the family car. Should we and other similar families be taxed extra for not having two cars? Should I downsize and get two cars (or maybe three)?

Surely by transporting my family in one car this is in fact the 'green' choice and, as such, my family should not be subjected to a tax aimed at making people go green!

I hope that many other families such as mine urge the government to rethink this unfair tax, and I look forward to reading all opinions on this subject.
Bryan Carvill

I live in the New Forest National Park where many residents drive 4x4 vehicles. Not the huge glitzy Chelsea Tractors, but usually older Land Rovers, some with bales of hay, and animals in the back, towing heavy trailers over unmade tracks, over which a normal saloon car would not have a hope of making much progress.

Many smallholders rely on these vehicles for their businesses. They are not a luxury here, but a necessity. Many of these people are certainly not wealthy, and the effect of this punitive tax increase on such people merely to pacify the green lobby is unfair.
Michael Smith

My thoughts on the budget are that Gordon Brown in one fell swoop has slashed the value of my vehicle. Instead of phasing this new tax rate in on new vehicles registered after a certain date, he has rendered all vehicles in band G unsaleable.

I am now driving a Volvo XC90 D5 that I now know will be returned to the finance company for the minimum guarantee value as no-one else will want to buy it! Will the new drivers force people to sell their vehicles and save the environment? No, how could they? A really stupid treatment and pandering to the green lobby and conducted without any thought of the taxpayers who have invested in vehicles.
Ian Saunders