Check out the new Peugot adverts. You may wish to be mean and petty like me and complain to the ASA :-)
“Peugot are promising to pay your “Road Tax” for three years. This is misleading and inaccurate. Winston Chuchill abolished Road Tax in the 1920s and replaced it with VED to mitigate the argument that motorists “own” the roads because they pay “Road Tax”. Roads are funded from general taxation so even non-motorists pay Road Tax!”
Well, I’ve responded! The Wife was getting a bit tired of me wittering on about Vehicle Excise Duty every time it came on. Hopefully Mr Reid at www.ipayroadtax.com is aware too.
Pffft. What are your grounds for complaint? That the advert is misleading people? The ASA will point out that “road tax” is an extremely common synonym/slang for VED and nobody will be mislead. What other ground for complaint under ASA rules is there?
That the misconception that they are promoting is contrinuing the “myth” that I pay road tax therefore I have more right to the road than a cyclist. Also it’s just a bit of embuggerance.
Cheers
Actually, I really don’t think people understand that vehicle excise duty is not a road tax, in the sense that many think that it pays for roads, and many many more make a false link between taxes levied on roads and public spending on roads. There is no such link – all taxes including national insurance go into the same pot, and all expenditure comes out of the same pot. This is true even where a politician says that “the banker’s bonus tax/north sea oil windfall tax (etc) will fund a programme of repairs to our schools/hospitals (etc)”. Even if it were true, does VAT charged on restaurant meals go to fund health inspectors? Does VAT charged on shoes go to pay for footpaths? No. Even if it were true, by the time all traffic related costs are compiled, ie including costs of road accidents and dealing with the health effects of NOX or PM10 emissions, the entirety of VED, fuel duty, VAT on petrol, cars, spares, parking, ad nauseam, nowhere near compensates for the public costs.
Anal though the point might seem, the road tax/VED point needs to be made, over and over again.
