Higher tax for 'gas guzzlers' (From Western Telegraph)

Higher tax for 'gas guzzlers'

Pembrokeshire farmers who drive 4x4 vehicles may have to pay a new top rate of vehicle tax, after 'green' changes to the system made in this month's Budget.

To 'encourage cleaner fuels and cars', Mr Brown said he was altering the rates of the annual car tax vehicle excise duty (VED).

VED is based on a vehicle's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with the cleanest vehicles paying £65-75 a year and the most-polluting ones forking out £165 to £175.

Mr Brown said that the least-polluting would pay no VED at all, while the most-polluting would now fall into a new, higher emissions band which would leave them facing a VED bill of £210.

The Chancellor said that 1% of all vehicles would fall into this new high band, including a number of off-road 4x4 vehicles.

Countryside Alliance chief executive Simon Hart, of Narberth, said he feared the VED increase 'directly discriminates against rural Britain with no significant environmental impact'.

The CLA says blanket taxation will penalise those who have to use them, either as an essential vehicle for their business, or because they live in areas where they are a necessity.

Widely seen as aimed at the use of large 4x4 vehicles in cities, the CLA says no regard has been taken of any consequential effect on rural communities.

CLA south Wales regional director Jonathan Andrews, said: "The people I know do not choose four wheel drive vehicles because of how they will look on the school run, but because they are physically capable to do that run. And the run to the doctor, and to the shops, and to visit their families, let alone allow their owners to do their jobs.

"They are also used because they can tow a trailer, carry large loads, and have good ground clearance to negotiate farm tracks and unmade country roads. They have to be multi-purpose because often they are the farm vehicle and the family car."