www.iva.co.uk

Hundreds of thousands of low-income families will lose out under controversial changes to road tax, it has been claimed.

Some 400,000 households earning less than £15,000 a year are among the 9.4 million to be hit by reforms to vehicle excise duty (VED), analysis by the Tories found.

The figures intensified the pressure on Chancellor Alistair Darling to rethink the plans after warnings that the Government was heading for another damaging tax debacle.

They come after Gordon Brown faced embarrassment on Thursday as it emerged he had been wrong to say the majority of motorists would be better off as a result of the changes.

In fact, 9.4 million face higher bills, there will be no change for 8.4 million and 1.4 million will pay less, the Treasury revealed.

Justine Greening, the shadow economic secretary, has now calculated that 400,000 of the poorest families will pay up to £245 a year more.

On average, they will be £80 a year worse off under the changes which are due to come into effect from next April.

Ms Greening said: "This government is bleeding low-income families dry, just as they are most under pressure from rises in the cost of living."

Labour backbenchers have already warned they are ready to start "flexing (their) muscles" over the reforms, which are designed to punish drivers of the most polluting vehicles.

They are pressing ministers to abandon plans to apply the new rates to vehicles already on the road, arguing that millions of families have bought cars in recent years with no knowledge of the plans announced in the March Budget.

i have an old zaffira done nearly 100,000 miles he is going to hit me hard were as the money men in their flash diesel low emission cars get away scott free and may even pay less GET OUT GORDON!!!!!!!

not a bit of wonder the uk has the biggest immigration rates in the universe everyone wants out and that clown gordon wants us to eat our left overs when i read he had an 18 course banquet dinner the other day i wonder if he asked for a doggy bag!!!!!!

Well I always said that this labour was worse than the consevative's they took over from and they have proved it!! I was brought up to believe that working class and labour went hand in hand, not any more!!!!
In my opinion though, no matter who is on government, they want money from you and unless you have a bl**dy good accountant, you'll have to hand it over!!

i have been brought up in a big labour community and it was labour to the end when voting came around but its over never again will i vote for them!!!!!!!

Chris, I agree that whatever Government is in power they will do their best to bleed you dry, but Gordon Brown seems to be worse than most. He is currently lurching from one crisis to another whilst trying to assure us that he is the best.

Indebt, I agree that he must go. I voted labour in the last two elections, there is no way I will again.

My car is only 2 1/2 years old, I do not consider it to be one of the major polluters, but my road tax will be going up by about £80 next year.

The cars they should be targetting are the 'coal burners' I see when I am out (not getting at you indebt, I am sure your car is well looked after). Sometimes you cannot see them for the smoke, and the smell coming from them!!!!!!!!!!!

Hurry up people and get Conservatives in .! Cameron cant be any worse than Brown .

mine is to go up over £200 its not my fault i cant afford a new one yet he cripples the poor yet again why dont they give us a grant out of all that tax he takes on everything for a low emmision one!!!!!

If only we had a none of the above option on the voting forms.
I`m sick of Liebour but could never bring myself to vote Tory.

trust labour more than the tories

I've always voted Conservative and always will do - I was far better off under the Tories.

I'm lucky in that my car tax won't go up with the new bandings but I really feel for those who will be affected. It's the last thing people need with the rising prices of petrol, fuel, food and everything else. Don't forget though, Gordon feels our pain...

always better off under labour

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one Michael!

i think so

would love a debate with you one day though

remember Margaret Thatcher under the Tories deregulated the banking services enabling them as institutions to enable customers to borrow on an unprecedented scale, hence the predicament were in now with massive debt and mortgages.

I've sold my car, and so the road tax doesn’t bother me. I've always seen driving as a privilege and not a right. This is a mistake we all of us make. Have you considered how much material and dangerous waste is created as a byproduct of making each car, let alone running it.

I believe Gorden Brown has taken an unpopular but important decision to make cars that pollute more expensive to run. At least you can't fault him for chasing the popular vote. Sure it doesn’t suit some people, and it hurts those who are already finding life costly. But isn't this always the way. The rich will always be better off.

Ultimately we all have a responsibility to conserve energy and make life bearable for future generations. This tax is designed in some way to help towards this, and it is now possible to buy a small runabout with low CO2 emission for less than £6000 new, and far less just a few years old.

There are many poorer families who buy family status cars BMW and Mercedes that are serious gas guzzlers but are cheap due to their age. We all of us need to think this through carefully and not just knee jerk against sensational tabloid headlines.

well said johnt