Almost half of all car owners will be up to £245 worse off under plans for massive increases in road tax, the Treasury admitted yesterday.
And fewer than one in five will benefit from the controversial move, which was sold as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The Government's own figures demolish ministers' claims that Budget plans to overhaul vehicle excise duty will have little impact on motorists.
In the Commons last month, Gordon Brown said: 'The majority of drivers will benefit from it.'
But in an apparent contradiction yesterday, Treasury minister Angela Eagle admitted to MPs that from April 2010 it will cost more to keep 43 per cent of all cars on the road – some 9,423,450 vehicles.
More than one million drivers of cars registered between 2001 and 2006 will see road tax jump from £210 to either £430 or £455 depending on emissions, while others face hikes of between £10 and £155.
Meanwhile, just 3,944,700 cars out of the 22million on the road – or 18 per cent – will see the price of a tax disc fall.
Owners of the remaining 39 per cent – 8,546,850 cars – will pay the same.
Miss Eagle also said that five of the 30 most popular cars, including those used for the school run or to get the weekly shop, would pay more under the changes.
These are the 2.2-litre diesel Land Rover Freelander, the 1.6-litre unleaded Toyota Auris, the 2.2-litre diesel Honda CR-V, the 1.8-litre unleaded Vauxhall Vectra and the 1.6-litre unleaded Vauxhall Zafira.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1033826/Nine-million-car-owners-hit-tax-rises--times-higher-previously-estimated.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/7293011.stm
My Husband drives 120 miles a day in his VW Passat. There is no public transport to get him to work, and certainly not during the hours he works.
I am glad to see the 4 x 4's getting hit though.