Introduction
The United Kingdom (UK) government is being to lose out significantly in road taxes and fuel duty due to the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). The balance between the move towards net-zero is causing the government to rethink the ways of collecting revenue to replace the billions of pounds in taxes previously charged on fossil fuels and road taxes . The government forecasted to collect £28.3 billion in fuel duty alone for the financial year (Allan, 2018). Nevertheless, pure-electric vehicles were never expected to be a part of tax contribution (Allan, 2018). This is a clear indication that to reach net-zero, via the adoption of the EVs and PHEVs, is starting to cause harm to the government taxing system, thus, reducing taxes estimated to be £40 billion pounds (RAC, 2019).
The loss of taxes reduces the income available for government operations, consequently lowering economic development. This calls for a new strategy imposing some sort of taxation on EVs and PHEVs based on either a pay as your drive scheme , a set yearly fee or a combination of the both. The move will ensure that the drivers using the road network the most pays the most. The research looks into the viability of introducing a road tax on EVs and PHEVs to cover the £40 billion as a result of the mass adoption.
Research Questions
The research question often offers a roadmap that a study follows to ensure the achievement of the desirable outcome (Gillespie et al., 2016). The question actually uncovers what the researcher is trying to find and influences the steps taken to conclude. The research will be guided by the following questions. The major research question is, “With the government’s target to reach net-zero what taxes/fee structures can they adopt to replace the £40bn generated from fuel/road taxes.”
The study will be guided by the following sub-questions:
What are the impacts of the net-zero achievement on the road taxes charged on fossil fuel use?
What measures outside the road tax should the UK government put in place to recover the £40 billion lost in the adoption of the EVs and PHEVs?
Will the introduction of the road tax on EVs and PHEVs promote the recovery of the billions of pounds lost in the zero-net move?
