Pay-per-mile: Critics argue that motorists every move would be tracked, leading to a surveillance state

  • 2 months ago
Interview with politics expert, Dr Steve McCabe.
Transcript
00:00At the present, of course, every time we go in to buy a litre or a tank full of petrol
00:07or diesel or whatever else that you get from the petrol station, you're paying a significant
00:13amount in terms of revenue. It's a big revenue generator for the government, currently something
00:18about £25 billion. Now, of course, we have this target, if you like, in the not-too-distant
00:23future of having cars that are not going to work on fossil fuels, like petrol, diesel,
00:29electric cars. So in that sort of sense, you bypass the petrol station and, of course,
00:34that revenue disappears. So there's got to be some form, if you like, of replacing that.
00:39Perhaps the biggest concern raised about a potential pay-per-mile is social inequality,
00:45with the poorest in society having the largest burden from the new taxation.
00:50Well, of course, there's always going to be this sort of problem, quite clearly. It's
00:55a bit like sort of road taxation. Of course, we have methods, if you like, of sort of collecting
00:59that. Of course, that's sort of done automatically. But of course, people choose not to pay that.
01:03So the difficulty, and I fully accept that some sort of people are going to say, I can't
01:09pay for miles or pay per mile, because, of course, I do sort of huge numbers of miles.
01:14I think that there's going to be no fair way, if you like, I suppose, that the policy makers
01:19can provide some, if you like, sort of safety net for those who are sort of on lower incomes.
01:24Many have raised concerns about the tracking of motorists, leading to what they say may
01:30be a surveillance state. It's certainly going to be a political hot potato for the Labour
01:36government.
01:37Well, absolutely. I mean, of course, people sort of do feel sort of resentful of this.
01:40But I do sort of come back to the fact that we've got to have some alternative for collecting
01:44sort of the revenues that we sort of get through fuel. So as I say, this is going to be a long-term
01:48approach. And I think there has to be sort of an education campaign. People have got
01:52to be aware of what the consequences are of not paying the sort of the revenues, because
01:56quite clearly, of course, it's a form of taxation.

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