Policy instruments (4) - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 241

vehicles (band G) was increased disproportionately - to £300 in 2007/08 and £400 in
2008/09. However this is still a paltry sum compared with £1800 for the top band and
a £300 differential between all other bands recommended by the House of Commons
Environmental Audit Committee (2006b).
The 2007 announcements about motoring taxes were presented on the basis that
they would 'sharpen the signals to motorists to purchase more fuel efficient vehicles'.
However this invites the obvious rejoinder that if influencing vehicle purchase is
considered the principal aim (since it pre-determines the emission rates of the vehicle
stock) then it is to vehicle purchase that banded taxation should be applied (Potter
et al. 2003). A step in this direction was made in the 2008 Budget when the most
polluting vehicles were required to pay double rates of VED in their first year. In effect
this is a purchase tax by other means although the sums involved only represent a tax
of about 1-2% on the purchase price of the cars concerned.
In addition to the motoring taxes discussed thus far it is also relevant to note the
treatment of motoring costs within company and personal taxation. For many years the
general taxpayer subsidised the growth of a 'company car culture' in which employees
enjoyed what was in effect a salary perk by having personal use of a company-owned
car. This had the unfortunate effect of stimulating the purchase of larger engined cars
which then skewed the nation's vehicle stock towards lower fuel efficiency. A system
of tax relief discounts was then introduced linked to the volume of business mileage
undertaken but this had the perverse effect of encouraging car use in order to qualify
for a higher discount. In 2002 the tax levied on company cars was revised to relate to
their emission standards (to encourage purchase of more fuel-efficient vehicles) and
business mileage discounts were abolished.
15.3 Parking charges
The supply of parking available to the public has two main components - off-street
car parks and on-street spaces. The principle of payment for the former is accepted as
a service charge and is reflected in the commercial operation of car parks developed
in town centres, at transport interchanges and other locations of high demand. (Local
authorities are more general providers.) Payment for on-street spaces on the other
hand is contentious - it invokes questions of the 'right' to use the public highway and
concerns in some quarters that motorists are being exploited for additional 'stealth
taxes'.
On-street charging was first applied through the introduction of kerbside meters
in Central London in the 1950s as an additional means of rationing the limited space
available beyond restrictions on length of stay. Overall control of the amount and
pricing of parking space was officially recognised as the most appropriate means of
managing traffic demand in town centres in advance of developments in road pricing
(MOT 1967a) . Outside London however it was many years before this idea began to
exert a significant influence on the management of on-street space, partly because of
local political resistance but also because traffic conditions were eased by a combination
of urban road-building, improved traffic management and industrial decline in inner
urban areas. The presence of vacant and derelict sites within walking distance of town
centres which could be used informally for car parking was a further factor. In some less
economically buoyant areas this situation has not changed greatly to this day.
The role of charging as a component of integrated demand management came to
assume more general prominence in the early 1990s particularly through the practical