Ignore the howls around pay-per-mile, chancellor. We can’t afford not to tax electric cars
If you want a document to give you sleepless nights, the Office for Budget Responsibility’s biennial Fiscal Risks and Sustainability report is a go-to publication.This is the one that looks to the horizon and covers everything from demographic trends to state pension promises to the climate crisis.The headline finding in this July’s version was a true jaw-dropper.The UK’s public finances are on an unsustainable long-term trajectory because government debt would rise to a remarkable 270% of GDP by the early 2070s – up from almost 100% today – if current policies were left unchanged.The “if nothing changes” qualification is important because some of the risks to the public finances are so blindingly obvious – and have been for ages – that it is astonishing successive governments have ignored them.
One is the certainty that government income from fuel duty will dwindle to next to nothing once we’re all driving electric vehicles.The July document spelled out the arithmetic.From expected revenues of £24.4bn from fuel duty in 2024-25, a halving is projected by the 2030s and receipts will be close to zero by 2050.“This is an average £15.
5bn a year lost in fuel duty receipts, driven by the assumption all new cars and vans will be zero-emission by 2035 and new HGVs [heavy goods vehicles] by 2040,” said the OBR.The sums, to state the obvious, are huge.Indeed, fuel duty alone accounts for three-quarters of the revenues that will be lost to government arising from decarbonising the economy.Something plainly has to change on motoring taxes.And here – finally – is a proposal.
Rachel Reeves is considering using this month’s budget to announce plans for a pay-per-mile tax for electric vehicles from 2028.A charge of 3p a mile for EVs, on top of other road taxes, would offset falling revenue from petrol and diesel cars.Crucially, from a transition perspective, the numbers would still be loaded in favour of EVs.The suggested rate would work out at an average of £250 a year, a lot less than the average £600 that petrol and diesel drivers pay in fuel tax, which can itself be considered a pay-per-mile charge.Enforcement remains an unanswered practical problem if Reeves’s system will rely on EV drivers estimating their mileage themselves.
But the principle is sound: the Treasury cannot afford to let motoring taxes disappear.Naturally, the idea provoked howls from predictable quarters.The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that at such a pivotal moment in the UK’s transition towards EVs, it would be “the wrong measure”.The car salesmen need to get real.It is their sort of “not the right time” thinking that has made the problem of evaporating fuel duties so urgent.
It would have been better to start reform incrementally half a decade ago, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies was urging at the time.From its 2019 report: “The government needs to rethink how it taxes motoring.It should start now, before the revenue disappears and expectations of low-tax motoring become ingrained.” Quite.The issue has been dodged for too long.
Reeves’s proposal is too blunt to tackle the costs of congestion, the other problem identified by the IFS, but it’s better than letting the pressure on Treasury receipts build and build.If the UK can’t rejig motoring taxes to keep up with changes in technology, it hasn’t a hope of easing bigger headaches in the OBR’s book of scary projections, such as rising pension and healthcare costs.Reeves should implement her pay-per-mile idea.Most EV drivers, one suspects, will see the fairness.
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland dies at age of 24
The Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland has died at the age of 24, the team announced on Thursday.“It is with extreme sadness that the Dallas Cowboys share that Marshawn Kneeland tragically passed away this morning. Marshawn was a beloved teammate and member of our organization. Our thoughts and prayers regarding Marshawn are with his girlfriend Catalina and his family,” the team said in a statement.According to the Frisco police department, Kneeland appeared to have taken his own life after a late-night vehicle pursuit and multi-agency search
Ntamack and France aim to rid themselves of ‘trauma’ from World Cup defeat
Fly-half was not involved in heartbreaking quarter-final loss two years ago but is optimistic Les Bleus can exact revenge against South Africa – even without Antoine DupontRomain Ntamack was not on the pitch when Les Bleus last met South Africa just over two years ago, having been denied a starring role at the home World Cup by a knee ligament injury the previous summer. The Toulouse fly-half was nevertheless as affected as anyone by the one-point quarter-final defeat by the Springboks, which brought France’s ambitions to an abrupt and sobering end.“The trauma from that match went beyond the 23 players who were on the team sheet,” the 26-year-old said before this weekend’s rematch, which kicks off the autumn campaign for both sides. “We’ve moved on since then, though, and we’re fully focused on Saturday’s match.”After an underwhelming summer campaign in New Zealand that yielded three defeats in as many tests, France also have a more immediate point to prove
India beat Australia by 48 runs in fourth men’s Twenty20 international – as it happened
That’s all from me this evening as India’s depth continues to shine through especially as Australia’s lineup is weakened by the departure of several first-choice players to pre-Test duties. We’ll be back on Saturday for the fifth and final T20 as Australia chase a victory in Brisbane to level the series.But, for now, here is the full report from India’s 48-run win on the Gold Coast.Australia can still level the series in the fifth and final T20 on Saturday but Mitch Marsh can’t hide his disappointment at letting this game slip.We thought [India’s] 167 was par
‘What is rugby?’: New film Brothers on Three documents the game at West Point
With unprecedented access to one of the top US college programs, director Sean Mullin uncovers raw stories of love and lossAt the United States Military Academy at West Point, rugby has the best winning record of any men’s sports program. Brothers on Three, a new documentary about the team out this week, begins with scenes of wild joy from Houston, Texas in 2022, when the Black Knights beat St Mary’s, from California, to win their first US college title.And yet director Sean Mullin’s film is shot through with loss.There are losses, of course, on the field.Mullin and writer-producer Brian Anthony are West Point grads, rugby players too
WTA Finals tennis: Anisimova sends Swiatek out; Rybakina beats Alexandrova – as it happened
Amanda Anisimova fought past Iga Swiatek 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2 in a winner-takes-all match at the WTA Finals on Wednesday to join Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals and stay in the hunt for a first crown on her debut in the season-ending championship.The stage was set for the highly-anticipated clash between the pair after Swiatek routed Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 to lift her maiden Wimbledon crown in July, before the American gained revenge in the US Open quarter-finals in September.Following a fierce start to their latest meeting and 12 straight holds of serve, Poland’s Swiatek raised her level to seize control of the first set in the tiebreak, clinching it when Anisimova struck a forehand long.The war of attrition continued in the second set, before Anisimova ramped up the intensity on her forehand and earned the first break of the match in the 10th game to force a decider at the King Saud University Sports Arena.With confidence flowing, Anisimova carved out another break to surge 3-1 ahead in the third set and shift the pressure onto world No 2 Swiatek, and the resilient 24-year-old stayed firm from there and completed her comeback victory
McIlroy thanks PGA chief for Ryder Cup apology and questions LIV changes
Rory McIlroy says the PGA of America chief executive, Derek Sprague, apologized personally for the abuse directed at the world No 2 and his wife during Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph at Bethpage Black, and that the gesture helped to close the book on what had been a bruising week.“I got a lovely email from Derek Sprague apologizing,” McIlroy told BBC Sport ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. “Erica worked with Derek at the PGA of America back in the day, so we know Derek and his wife pretty well. He couldn’t have been more gracious or apologetic and he wrote us a lovely letter, which we really appreciated.”A beer hurled from the stands struck Erica’s hat during the fiery three-day contest, in which McIlroy became a lightning rod for a raucous home crowd
Ignore the howls around pay-per-mile, chancellor. We can’t afford not to tax electric cars
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