Emergency Budget submission

16th June

The BVRLA has advised Chancellor George Osborne to abolish the tax disc and allow the purchase of multi-year Vehicle Excise Duty.

The suggestions came in the association’s submission ahead of the emergency Budget on 22 June.

More than 34 million tax discs are produced, printed and distributed annually and the BVRLA believes that eliminating them could save the government over £90 million each year.

With the use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras and continuous registration laws there is no longer a need for tax discs to be displayed on windscreens.

With first-year vehicle excise duty rates rising significantly for high-emission vehicles, to £950 for some cars, Treasury officials have previously expressed concerns that high-value discs could increasingly be targeted by thieves.

“Not having to display a tax disc would bring us into the 21st Century and reduce the burden on fleet owners, who would no longer have to distribute them to drivers or retrieve them when they were seeking to obtain a refund,” said BVRLA chief executive, John Lewis.

“It would help the government make instant progress in its plans to cut government waste and the money could be invested in modernising some of the DVLA’s antiquated systems and working practices.”

Multi-year VED
The BVRLA believes that introducing the ability to purchase multi-year VED would save the industry up to five million pounds in administration costs each year, as well as improving the cash flow to the Exchequer and reducing the DVLA's workload.

“Having previously shared our proposals with the DVLA, we know that it is equally keen to see this measure pursued,” Mr Lewis added.

Tax inequality
Elsewhere in its submission, the BVRLA outlines a number of simple changes that the government could make to the current company car tax regime in light of its ‘simpler and more efficient’ agenda.

In particular, it calls for a removal of the current 3% diesel supplement in benefit-in-kind tax for company cars and fuel.

“Removing this historically out-of-date, pollution-related penalty would accelerate further corporate adoption of these vehicles and help to push company car emissions even lower,” said Mr Lewis.

“We accept that, in the current economic climate, there may be a need to make compensatory adjustments to the benefit-in-kind base lines in order to neutralise the tax take.”


About the BVRLA:
The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association is the national trade body for companies engaged in the leasing and rental of cars and commercial vehicles. Its members provide short-term rental, contract hire and fleet management services to corporate users and consumers. They operate a combined fleet of around 2.5 million cars, vans and trucks, buying nearly half of all new vehicles sold in the UK. Through its members and their customers, the BVRLA represents the interests of more than two million business car drivers and the millions of people who use a rental vehicle each year. As well as lobbying the government on key issues affecting the sector, the BVRLA regulates its members through a mandatory code of conduct. 

For more information:
Toby Poston – Head of Communications
toby@bvrla.co.uk
tel: 01494 545700
mob: 07979 756533