Major new car tax changes are being introduced within a matter of days, with drivers seeing a 10 percent increase in most bands of Vehicle Excise Duty.
How to get an exemption or discount?
Bath and North East Somerset Council say drivers do not need to apply for an exemption if they own a private car or their vehicles already meet the required emission standards.
However, they warn owners may be able to obtain a national or local exemption.
Local exemptions must be applied for up to 14 days ahead of their journey in the zone and until their exemption is approved.
The council has confirmed discounts could apply for owners of larger motorhomes and horse transporters which are private heavy goods vehicles.
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Exemptions will also be considered for hard to replace vehicles or cafes used to support health and emergency services or vulnerable groups.
“Anyone can produce a 'what if' straight-line extrapolation of the future to justify the lost revenue argument.
“And that is what the Treasury and successive Chancellors have done Budget after Budget to portray themselves as fiscal martyrs.”
FairFuelUK sent a letter signed by 26 Tory MPs to the Chancellor last week demanding the duty was not increased.
They warned any rise would “disproportionately impact” lower-paid workers outside of London.
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They also hinted Prime Minister Boris Johnson had pledged to not raise the tax ahead of the 2019 General Election.
A Treasury source said electric vehicle costs would be the “priority” in the budget instead of raising fuel duty costs.
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Car tax updates could see a £3.50 charge issued to drivers who enter Outer London boroughs. The new charge will apply to the most polluting vehicles in the capital to generate more money to use on public transport services.
A 20 percent coronavirus discount has been applied for year one (Image: Newham London)
However, the Council has confirmed these costs will rise to £200 from next year when the 20 percent discount comes to an end.
Vehicles emitting between 171 and 225 g/km of CO2 will pay £120 this year with costs rising to £150 from year two.
Costs decrease in small increments with the least polluting models emitting between 0 and 50 g/km of CO2 facing no charge at all.
They said: “Newham residents are exposed to high levels of toxic pollution from vehicles, contributing to the highest death rate in England, according to Public Health England, with 96 people dying each year due to the poor quality of the air that they breathe.
Up to 32 metric tonnes of Co2 in tailpipe emissions could be saved between 2020 and 2030 with a further 64MtCo2 between 2031 and 2050.
Despite this, Mr Buttle said any new tax hikes were “completely unnecessary” as motorists were already making the move towards new models.
Electric car sales have soared in 2020 with a 162.2 percent increase year-on-year for fully electric models.
Over 86,000 EV’s have been sold this year compared to 32,911 after eleven months in 2019.
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However, battery-electric models still only make up just 5.8 percent of overall sales as petrol and diesel vehicles still drove high numbers.
Over 840,000 petrol cars have been sold in 2020 despite this being almost 40 percent down on last year.