The motorist has been government's favourite cash cow since as far back as I can remember, and it's past time that they found somebody else to foot the bills.

I would be broadly in favour of a graduated road pricing system, but it would have to replace the plethora of taxes already levied on car owners.

If it were not for private car owners there would be no road system for public transport to run on without a massive hike in income tax.

When you start to tot up all the individual taxes, it is quite astonishing.

1. You buy a car, and several thousand pounds of the price you pay go straight to the treasury.
2. You pay for a licence to keep the car and use it on the road, a couple of hundred extra pounds.
3. You fill the tank, and about eighty percent is tax.

A gallon of petrol is estimated to cost about 30p to produce. Add in say 15% profit for the refinery, 15% profit for the distributor, and another 15% for the retailer, gives a realistic 48p per gallon at the pump. The current UK price is approximately £5.40per gallon. The difference is made up of fuel tax, and then VAT on the total. They levy tax upon a tax, and how the hell is that right and fair, and where does that happen, other than to motorists.

Going back to the Road Fund Licence fee, which was brought in initially on the pretext of covering the cost of roads, it is true to say that the fees collected in one year cover the total capital cost of road building and maintenance for several years, and the rest disappears into the treasury black hole.

If all those taxes were discontinued, and a system of graduated road pricing adopted, it would be fairer among motorists, but the pricing would have to be set by a committee independent of government.

Experience tells us that government always overcharges (ask them where the rest of the Road Fund Licence money goes).

Don T.