Summary
This Report,
‘Evasion
of Vehicle Excise Duty’ (HC 227) from the House of Commons Committee of
Public Accounts, examines the circumstances of and issues surrounding the
increased evasion rates for vehicle excise duty (VED).
Evasion of
Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rose to 5% (£214 million) in 2006, up from 3.6% in
2005. Amongst motorcyclists the evasion rate increased to 38% from 30% the
previous year. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), overseen by the
Department for Transport, is tasked with tackling evasion. The Agency had
accepted that it would not achieve its targets of reducing evasion to 2.5% by
December 2007, and saving £70 million a year by the end of 2007-08.
Not
licensing a vehicle and registering the keeper increasingly reflect the
intention to avoid congestion charges and prevent identification of criminals,
as well as the actual evasion of VED. Problems are also caused by false and
foreign number plates.
This Report notes DVLA's lack of resources to
undertake on-the-road enforcement. The Committee questions the effectiveness of
the DVLA's current enforcement approach and whether the DVLA understands the
patterns and motivations for evasion well enough to design fully effective
counter-measures.
Working with partner organisations such as the Police
and Local Authorities is the best way to tackle persistent offenders. In the
medium term the DVLA may need to move to increasingly advanced technological
solutions such as the insertion of electronic chips into number plates.
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