Municipalities around the world have elected to push gas car sales bans by date targets as early as 2035, and a new report suggests that Tesla has had a hand in pushing the UK to increase its petroleum and diesel taxes.
The Guardian reports that Tesla lobbied the UK government to raise gas and diesel taxes to fund a ban on hybrid cars as well as greater government subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs).
The move would pay for tax breaks like a value-added tax (VAT) exemption for EV drivers, as well as other grants to help pay for EVs, as seen by The Guardian on submissions to the government.
@elonmusk What's the best way to sell electric vehicles in the UK? Lobby the government to raise taxes on fuel duty and petrol & diesel cars to subsidise grants and tax breaks for electric vehicles. I don't think beating customers into submission is the best way forward…
— 4 Quarters Ltd (@4QuartersLtd) March 16, 2021
Theoretically speaking, the new proposals could add thousands of pounds to the price of new gas or diesel cars, while simultaneously driving the price for EVs down.
In a July submission to the government last year, Tesla wrote, “Supporting zero-emissions vehicle uptake via mechanisms to make new fossil-fuelled cars pay for the damage they cause is entirely reasonable and logical.” The company continued, “The result can be a revenue-neutral system for the government.”
Not far off from the demands of many environmental activists, a tax on fossil fuels and carbon is seen as a necessary part of driving down fossil fuel and use and carbon emissions worldwide. However, in the UK, the government has frozen the fuel duty for eleven years, marking more than £50 billion ($69.5 billion USD) in government oil subsidies.
