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By Jim Salkeld

There’s a huge hole in the road close to where I live and I’m told the council is looking into it…  That should be funny, and I don’t know if it’s the same everywhere, but the roads in Bedfordshire are so full of ruts and potholes that you’re almost forced to drive a 4x4 just to stay above ground.   This is despite record levels of fuel tax revenue and an impending increase.  What’s going on?  Is there any possibility that fuel taxes and road tax will actually be spent on the roads, or are we doomed to endure surfaces that would seem poor even by third world standards?  It’s not even as if the revenue is going to alternative forms of transport!
Now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve a sneaking suspicion that, apart from major road initiatives (like the M1 jam from Junction 12 to 6 most days), the responsibility for the upkeep of existing road network lies with the local authority.   Indeed, I vaguely recall that my last council tax bill carried a note to that effect in justification for the outrageous charge.  So where’s all the cash going?

If HMG is to have any chance of selling the “carbon tax” argument to us, it has to start being honest and a good first step would be a genuine record of revenue and expenditure.  If the books balance, and it is clear that motoring related taxation is spent improving road, rail and alternative transport programs to keep UK limited in business, then all well and good.  They won’t balance.  It doesn’t matter how many *.gov websites you navigate, or how many statistics you manage to get your head around, because a big chunk of fuel tax revenue alone appears to have vanished  into the same black hole that I almost drove into on my way to work this morning.