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British drivers will be hit by a massive increase in motoring taxes if the recommendations of an influential environmental think-tank are accepted by the government.
The Green Fiscal Commission, which is looking into ways to help the UK meet agreed targets for CO2 reductions, is recommending that taxes on 'high-carbon' activities should be dramatically increased, while at the same time other taxation is lowered.
Controversial options suggested by the Commission include a £300 tax on new cars, rising to £3300 by 2020, and the tripling of fuel duty over the same period.
The Commission was established in 2007 to consider ways to reduce CO2 emissions. Senior members of all three political parties serve on it.
"We've had it as a given that energy is cheap, so we have been wasteful. This has to change and the only way to do that is to make the polluters pay," said the report's author, Paul Elkins, a professor at University College London.
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