Some road tax discount

Sir, 

Road Tax Discount? Yes! 0.46 per cent!

I am 73 and my car is seven years old. I queued for two hours at the RTD in Paphos, hoping for the ceiling of £195 pounds your article of February 15 seemed to promise. I was told – very politely – that I was ineligible as I had had my discount in 2004. It was the usual £459. Why?

Well, in 2003, my road tax was £461, based on the weight of the vehicle, and this was reduced in 2004 to £459 pounds, based on engine capacity. So, yes, I’d had my discount: two pounds or roughly 0.46 per cent.

What logic or justice is there when the same vehicle registered in 2003 or earlier has to pay over twice as much road tax as a newer model?

Surprised? Not really, since our Byzantine bureaucracy had required me to produce a marriage (!) certificate in order to import the vehicle in the first place.

Robert Hudson
Peyia

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