Ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay has lobbied the Chancellor not to penalise owners of cars affected by the Volkswagen emissions scandal.
The German car manufacturer has admitted that it installed software in many of its cars that was designed to cheat emissions tests and has set aside £4.7 billion to cover the costs of the scandal, although the US Environmental Protection Agency says fines in the US alone could reach $18 billion.
The Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has confirmed that UK taxpayers who bought their vehicles in good faith will not incur higher Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) if their existing vehicles are found to be fitted with illegal software that manipulates emissions tests.
Mr Mackinlay has secured additional reassurance that in light of new reports suggesting that CO2 emissions might also have been falsified by the software, the Government will not reassess tax and national insurance payments for an additional benefit in kind on taxpayers or companies as a result of wrong CO2 data.
Mr Mackinlay also asked the Chancellor to consider legal action to recover tax due from Volkswagen as a consequence of tax losses arising from any falsified carbon dioxide outputs.
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Damian Hinds has stressed that the Government takes the unacceptable actions of Volkswagen extremely seriously and is taking robust action to get to the bottom of the emissions sandal. Mr Hinds assured Mr Mackinlay that the Government continues to monitor the actions of Volkswagen closely and will consider all options once the facts are fully clarified.
Craig commented, “I am pleased that the Government has made this commitment to hard working tax-payers. Many made their decisions about what car to purchase based on information that has now proved to have been falsified. They made decisions based upon performance and emissions data in good faith and are victims in this whole affair.”
Image © Francis Storr licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0