On 20/05/2017 12:15, JNugent wrote:
On 20/05/2017 11:47, Paul Cummins wrote:

(James Wilkinson Sword) wrote:

It's road tax, car tax, whatever, they're just names for the same
thing.

No, Car Tax is the additional tax you pay when you buy a new car.

I am glad to be able to advise you that Car Tax (the successor to
Purchase Tax, and insituted in 1973 because the Treasury could not bear
to lose the greater proceeds of that tax wheb PT was otherwise replaced
by VAT) was abolished in the early 1990s (under John Major).

Motor cars are now subject "only" to VAT on purchase as new vehicles.

Commercial vehicles are subject to VAT when sold new and when sold
secondhand.

Happy to help.

There is also a first year premium to be paid in addition to road tax,
presumably to try and discourage sales, or just gouge the cash cow
motorist even further.