Rachel Reeves confirms new £790 charge for drivers | Tech News

Certain drivers are paying up to £790 per yr to get behind the wheel resulting from new charges launched by Rachel Reeves. The Chancellor oversaw the introduction of new Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) tax bands from April 1, with virtually all drivers set to face greater costs.

VED is calculated utilizing a vary of metrics relying on when a vehicle was registered and how many emissions it produces. Cars registered between 2001 and 2017 are positioned into 13 tax bands, with probably the most polluting fashions paying more.

It means some motorists are actually paying virtually £800 to retain their freedom to drive, in a blow to cash-strapped highway customers. Cars emitting over 255g/km of CO2 will now pay £790 each year, a £30 increase on the £760 VED charges issued to those drivers over the past yr.

Cleaner autos are additionally affected, with vehicles producing between 255 and 256 g/m of CO2 paying £25 more within the new tax yr, whereas charges rise from £735 to £760 per yr. Motorists with vehicles in Bands I, J and Ok are additionally affected, with prices rising by £15 per yr from April 1.

Cars in bands F, G and H will likely be hit with £10 price hikes, whereas simply £5 will likely be added to the payments for autos in bands D and E. It means decrease polluting fashions emitting between 121 and 130g/km of CO2 are actually set to pay £17 per yr as a substitute of £165.

However, some highway customers will miss the charges altogether, with drivers in Bands A, B and C, vehicles emitting up to 120g/km of CO2, not paying any further to make use of the roads.

HMRC has beforehand defined: “As announced at Budget 2025, the government will introduce legislation in Finance Bill 2025-26 to uprate Vehicle Excise Duty rates for cars, vans and motorcycles in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) for 2026 to 2027. This will take effect from 1 April 2026.”