Road pricing is a system under which you pay the state a fee for every kilometre you drive. England is now introducing this to increase government revenues and compensate for lower fuel-duty receipts as the number of electric vehicles grows. Naturally, the state has no entitlement to this money in a country where freedom of movement is enshrined in law and where people already pay taxes and tolls to finance road construction, but right and wrong are beside the point: the state always needs more money to squander.

The debate over road pricing has been going on in Norway for several years. Naturally, the overwhelming majority of people are opposed to it, but it is merely a sham debate: the system will be introduced in Norway as well. That decision has already been made, as we saw with the EEA, immigration, DAB radio, wind turbines, the electricity coup and paper straws. What the majority of people think is of no consequence, as we have also seen with toll roads and climate taxes on fuel. It is the EU that decides now.

Politicians Do Not Tolerate Losing Money

So far, the Norwegian state has lost up to NOK 700 billion through its foolish tax exemption for new electric cars, and this cannot continue. Our poor state is broke and therefore entirely dependent on more taxes and charges. That is why electric cars in Norway will be subject to full VAT from 2028, and other charges will follow, little by little, so that everyone gets used to them. For Norwegians put up with everything.

Under the new system in England, electric cars and any hydrogen-powered vehicles will pay three pence per mile from 1 April 2028, or around NOK 0.24 per kilometre. Plug-in hybrids will pay half the rate. It does not sound like much, but it soon adds up. If you drive the average annual distance of 12,900 kilometres, the bill will come to £240 a year, or around NOK 3,100. To sweeten the pill, the government has cut VAT on electricity.

This means that battery-electric cars will pay half the fuel duty levied on an equivalent petrol or diesel car. For now. Plus tolls, of course. And ever more expensive parking. And more expensive garages, and everything else designed to ensure that only the wealthy can afford to own a car in the future, while the rest of the peasants will have to cycle. Preferably on “Just Stop Oil” gravel roads.

Not Full Surveillance … Yet

The British do not have systems for monitoring every vehicle, so for the time being the state is dependent on motorists reporting their annual mileage and estimating how far they expect to drive. The actual mileage will later be verified during the periodic vehicle inspection. Electric vans, lorries, buses and motorcycles will initially be exempt, as will foreign electric vehicles, but that too is probably only temporary.

The British scheme could become a model for other European countries, because the system requires neither GPS surveillance nor continuous real-time tracking of every vehicle. But that will come once everyone has become accustomed to paying. Digital surveillance will then be forced through and presented as an advantage for motorists, just as Oslo’s 83 toll stations and three toll rings were presented as “cheaper and fairer”. The same happened with the introduction of “smart meters” for electricity. There was never a majority in favour of that either.

Yes, there will be plenty of consultations and debate, but that sort of thing only matters in sovereign democracies. As soon as the EU says “Jump!”, we jump.