Free road tax for motorbikes would be great! They are efficient, don't cause traffic jams, use less energy than other vehicles, and do little damage to the road, so, why should we get hammered each time we decide to ride one?
But, that's been an age-old argument since tax began, and I can't ever see Mr Govt change it - they'd lose billions.
Pays to ride a British bike from time to time!
Me old 1956 Beeza C12 benefited from free historic road tax,
and no MOT required (new rules for certain classics which started on Nov 2013).
Having no MOT required for an old clunker is not a scary thing for other road users to hear - they imagine things in an unroadworty condition. But, it's the opposite.
Most folk who ride/restore Brit bikes do so to a better standard of roadworthiness than some modern Jap bike riders. My C12 was a complete restoration, and lovingly kept. You'll rarely see an old Brit held with tape, string, wire and bungees! And not many young guys will want to ride an old Brit that's falling apart, just to get the advantage of free tax or MOT!
On the Japanese side of things..., want cheap road tax? Ride a Honda C90! - just £17 a year - that's not even 5p per day! Superb bikes, great laugh, and I just sold mine last month to a young guy (early 20s) in Aberdeen.
Even £80 for a large machine is not bad I suppose - it's just 22p per day.
Years ago, I used to rebel against buying road tax for each machine I had - which is why I just bought one road tax, then swapped it round to whatever bike I was on at the time. Afterall, I could only ride one at a time, and to me, it made no difference if the road tax was valid or not for that bike. The road duty WAS paid for, and it
was still on a motorcycle - end of argument - no matter if that bike was a moped, Honda superdream, XS1100, or whatever - it was a motorbike road tax, and I was still using the same little bit of road on 2 wheels.
I could see the point if I had a current motorbike road tax being used on a car etc.
I didn't think it fair that before the SORN days, even if you had a bike in a box in bits, in your bedroom, it had to be taxed. But I'm glad of the SORN capability, as it means I can have as many bikes as I want. Yeah, ok, Now I behave and buy separate road tax for each bike I want on the road.
What I WOULD like to see, is the road tax available to buy on a monthly basis, as required. Not the minimum of 6 months.
I rarely keep a bike for 6 months, and so I object to the DVLA making money out of me with the new system, by only giving me the next full month (can't backdate it), and the new keeper re-taxes it, which gets backdated to the 1st of the month - there's that "bit in-between" that the Govt benefits from.
Excuse me whilst I go pop a vein!!
and 
because it's £80 and for me, as well as probably most of us, totally disproportionate to the mileage we do and the emissions we give off as well as road wear and tear.
