Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-10-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government is taking steps to recover underpaid vehicle tax in respect of vehicles with higher emissions than certified by emission test data.

Damian Hinds

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates are based on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The “defeat devices” recently found in some VW diesel cars affect nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) emissions. There is therefore currently no evidence that this issue has resulted in an artificial reduction in VED revenues.

UK taxpayers will not incur higher VED if their existing vehicles are found to be fitted with illegal software that manipulates emissions tests. Following VW’s admission of using ‘defeat devices’ in diesel cars there is an ongoing UK government investigation.