The Government must come clean on “green taxes” and stop reneging on past promises on car tax, according to AA president, Edmund King, speaking at the recent Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum.

AA research shows that some motorists were told by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown MP in the Budget 2007 that the government would be “raising the rates for graduated band F by £10 in 2007-08, then £5 in each of the subsequent two years”. Chancellor Darling has reneged on that promise and wants to raise the rate ten times higher in 2009. Some drivers have told the AA that their choice of car was influenced by the Chancellor's announcement in Budget 2007 only to find they will be paying ten times more due to Budget 2008.

Motorists are further annoyed as they were told in Budget 2007: “As with fuel duty rates, the Government today announces VED rates for this year and the next two years to further sharpen environmental signals to motorists to purchase more fuel efficient vehicles and continue to support the development of low-carbon market.”

The AA believes that the proposed “retrospective” nature of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) changes for cars registered between 2001-2006 should be scrapped. Government figures show that the new taxes could affect millions despite the fact that a “retrospective” tax does not send out a green signal but hits many motorists who cannot afford to change their vehicles.

An announcement in the Budget earlier this year means that millions of motorists owning ordinary family cars could be hit with tax hikes in 2009 and again in 2010.

Motorists have expressed concern about the issue via the AA Populus panel of 15,500 members.

• 35% do not understand the new system of VED
• 59% disagree that all cars registered from 2001 should be subject to the new tax system
• 56% say the new system for post 2001 cars should be stopped (22% don't know,12% think it should go ahead)
• 58% have not seen information about changes relevant to post 2001 cars
• 82% think road tax is being used as a stealth tax
• 35% think the new showroom tax will make a difference to the types of cars people buy
• 77% think that backdating the road tax changes will damage the value of some used cars meaning that people will keep older cars for longer.

More user-friendly information is required to inform car buyers of changes to VED over the next two years. People are buying cars today when they do not realise these will fall into much higher bands in 2009 and 2010.

The AA has raised these issues in a letter to the Chancellor and wants more individual feedback and case studies from drivers.

Background information can be found on www.theaa.com