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No, in theory it doesn't pay for the roads, and in practice it doesn't. That's just a lie put about by the anti-cyclist lobby. Most roads are actually funded f

No, in theory it doesn't pay for the roads, and in practice it doesn't. That's just a lie put about by the anti-cyclist lobby. Most roads are actually funded from local taxes - mainly council tax and business rates in any case, not even central funding.

sdeframond 5y ago
How do you know which money funds what?
- esteth 5y ago
  Because council tax and business rates get paid to an entirely different entity than road tax (local government vs state government) and you can see your council's spending breakdown
- haihaibye 5y ago
  The amount collected is less than the cost of building/maintaining roads, thus it must come from other sources.
derriz 5y ago
There are all sorts of complex flows of money between local and central taxation and spending. It's not really relevant to my point which is that taxes being collected by consumers of fossil fuels in the UK are certainly NOT being sent to foreign countries to pay for the externalities of pumping CO2 in the air. As a consumer of petrol in the UK, it's a mistake to think "I'm paying loads of petrol tax, so I'm paying for the externalities" when the money is being spent, one way or another in the UK. While the externalities are global.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  I think if we were looking at this from a "pure economics" point of view, we'd say that the theory of externalities isn't wrong. But that 1. The UK just hasn't priced it high enough. 2. If the UK does not spend the money raised on ameliorating the externality worldwide, then they have not cancelled out the externality as they might claim to have.
simonh 5y ago
It’s not really that simple. Here’s a breakdown of central government road funding. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/roads-funding-information-pack/roads-funding-information-pack https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/roads-funding-inf... So central government commits very heavy funding to road building and maintenance such as through the Major Road Fund, but also many maintenance schemes at different levels. Some local governments choose to forego some of this funding in return for receiving retained business rates instead. However retained business rates is collected by central government and considered central funding. Ultimately money is a fungible commodity. It is true there’s no direct relationship between road taxes and road maintenance, but whatever petrol taxes pay for would still need to be paid for somehow if they went away.

sdeframond 5y ago

How do you know which money funds what?

esteth 5y ago
Because council tax and business rates get paid to an entirely different entity than road tax (local government vs state government) and you can see your council's spending breakdown
haihaibye 5y ago
The amount collected is less than the cost of building/maintaining roads, thus it must come from other sources.

derriz 5y ago

There are all sorts of complex flows of money between local and central taxation and spending. It's not really relevant to my point which is that taxes being collected by consumers of fossil fuels in the UK are certainly NOT being sent to foreign countries to pay for the externalities of pumping CO2 in the air. As a consumer of petrol in the UK, it's a mistake to think "I'm paying loads of petrol tax, so I'm paying for the externalities" when the money is being spent, one way or another in the UK. While the externalities are global.

nicoburns 5y ago
I think if we were looking at this from a "pure economics" point of view, we'd say that the theory of externalities isn't wrong. But that 1. The UK just hasn't priced it high enough. 2. If the UK does not spend the money raised on ameliorating the externality worldwide, then they have not cancelled out the externality as they might claim to have.

simonh 5y ago

It’s not really that simple. Here’s a breakdown of central government road funding. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/roads-funding-information-pack/roads-funding-information-pack https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/roads-funding-inf... So central government commits very heavy funding to road building and maintenance such as through the Major Road Fund, but also many maintenance schemes at different levels. Some local governments choose to forego some of this funding in return for receiving retained business rates instead. However retained business rates is collected by central government and considered central funding. Ultimately money is a fungible commodity. It is true there’s no direct relationship between road taxes and road maintenance, but whatever petrol taxes pay for would still need to be paid for somehow if they went away.