Gerry Becket. What you say is in essence correct. The problem with this tax is that it is retrospective. A decision made as far back as seven years ago is now being punished. A genuinely green tax would change new car purchasing decisions

don, Peterborough,

Most of the "wingers" about increases in the tax burden are those that lobbied for a smoking ban. Serves you all right, the major loss in tax revenue from the sale of tobacco has now hit your pocket. You deserve to be taxed even more.

Alan Fry, Warwick, Great Britain

Living in rural Norfolk with poor public, expensive transport, we still don't have decent A roads, let alone motorways! The average family's income is based on the national minimum wage, so we can't afford to replace our elderly cars! What chance do we have with rising costs of tax, food & petrol!

Rosemary, Norfolk, England

Gordon Brown in denial again and completely out of touch. The problem will be ignored until the Glasgow East by-election forecasts show that Nu-Lab is going to lose. This is the 10p tax fiasco all over again, with a retrospective element thrown in. The arrogance of this government is unbelievable.

Melchet, Edinburgh, UK

I live in Norfolk, and often have to visit customers on the South coast. It's about 200 miles -- too far for a push bike!
My daughter's nearest Brownie pack is 4 miles away. Is she supposed to ride on my crossbar?
No, instead, I run a "gas guzzling" 1.6 litre car.

Tim Bartlett, Upwell, UK

In reply to David's comments, if he lived in very rural England where wages are the lowest, thecost of living is high, and there are no buses and it may require a 20 plus mile trip to work,where most people can only afford thecars that are being hit he may think twice before saying use your bike

Maurice Neal, Mullion, Cornwall

Ah - David from London is so right isn't he - those of us who have to drive the distances or live out in nowhere should just sell our houses and move right into London where the jobs giving a decent salary are -it isn't as if the money gained from this tax isn't needed to improve public transport...

Paul, Thatcham, England

By taxing older cars at punitive rates they have effectively slashed the resale/trade in value, meaning that it no longer makes economic sense to get rid of them. My Shogun is now worth about £3000 less than it was before. I'll pay the extra £200 tax for about 15 years before I can break even !!!

Adam, Brighton, England

If you have a problem with it then why not sell your car and walk/cycle/take the bus. It will save you money and you'll be much healthier too - simple.

David, Londond, UK

here we go again. GB said one thing and the officials said something different. either GB is extremely incompetent or he is a serial liar. either way not someone suitable to lead a nation. So please for the sake of all of us, G00000000000000.

PETER KIM, st albans,

Nothing changes - tax the poor who cannot afford leaner/greener cars, and make them 'pay' for their inability to be green. Being green in this governments eyes rules out vast swathes of the populus. Hence this is another tax on the poor, dressed up very condescendingly and most arrogantly.

Mark, York,

I'm retired, and drive a 7-year-old car 6,000 miles a year. My (petrol) car does 29 mpg, but my road tax will go from £210 to £415 next year. I can't sell it, because its value has plummeted due to the tax. I have to pay up - or scrap a perfectly good car. Is that fair? Will it save the planet?

David, Wokingham, UK

Oooooooooooh! Gordon! Another whopper! There are lies, damned lies, and Gordon's assurances.

Paul Freeman, London, England

Labour is finished...

I don't like the Tories, but I will vote for anyone that has a fighting chance of deposing Labour. They have just lost the plot...

John, Glasgow,

I know if get out the horse and cart within a couple of months someone somewhere in ths Government will come up with a method of taxation for it .
The red mist of taxation is thickening by the day.

Neil, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Gerry - you have that already - it is called fuel duty.
VED is an extremely lazy tax and doesn't make sense.
It doesn't account for mileage, road use etc...

James, Dubai, UAE

Pollute more = pay more = common sense. Nothing to do with offsetting anything else, just plain facts. If you buy a big polluting car you should be hit financially as a discouragement. Can anybody explain what is wrong with that? No diatribes please. Stick to what I've asked.

Gerry Beckett, Liverpool, UK

See what happens when you meddle with something you don't think through Gordon

CA, Manchester, UK

Retrospective taxation - like retrospective law - is almost always
bad in every way : nobody can plan ahead with confidence.
By all means have increased (or reduced) taxes operating from some future date - but effective only on assets acquired etc from that date onward. That's fair and proper.

David Thomas, Burnham, UK

what another spectacular Labour failure !

This will have zero impact on carbon footprint . I would rather see the air conditioners shut down in the Houses of Parliament and the lights turned off at night.

What next?

matt, houston, usa

Even more annoying than the tax rise is the lies by Gordon Brown. With everything computerised these days the government would know EXACTLY the make up of the car population and so how many cars would be affected.

The lies from GB are an absolute disgrace.

Andrew, Cambridge,

Funny this - just tried to email the PM:

"This service has been temporarily suspended for maintenance work". 23 June 2008

2.5 weeks of maintenance on a web site - don't think so!!!

Andrew, Cambridge,

The last nail in the coffin for Labour...

BKay, Hull,

Ah, yes this will be to offset the 2.7 billion tax rebate to benefit "Hard working families" , forced upon the Government by back bench rebellion over the 10p tax fiasco.

So.......errrr .it actually makes sense.

ronnie, bucks, UK