Road pricing, or pay-as-you-go charging for vehicles, may need to be introduced to fill a growing multibillion-pound hole in the national finances from the rise of the electric car. That is the warning from Sir John Armitt, the head of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), to the Treasury, which faces losing income on fuel taxes and vehicle excise duty, from which zero-emission cars are exempt. “Many people will say road pricing is inevitable. Personally, I don’t see why it should be any different to anything else.”Armitt, 78, had his chairmanship of the NIC extended before the Labour government set up its new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority. Road fuel taxes and car tax together bring

Source: The Times October 11, 2024 09:07 UTC