The Road Fund was instigated by the Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, David LLoyd George, in his Budget Speech of 1909. This was enacted with the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909.

A graduated scale of motor duty was introduced with petrol tax set at 3d per gallon. It was stated that the Treasury would not gain from the new duties and that all the revenue raised would be spent on the roads.

Revenue was paid into the Road Improvement Fund, later known as the Road Fund, and was managed by the Road Board. The Road Board did not undertake construction or maintenance of roads but controlled grants to local authorities to maintain roads.

The Finance Act (No.2) of 1915 allowed the Exchequer to retain the whole tax revenue of the Road Board to help pay for the war. Interest on investments was retained by the Road Board. In all, £14,329,000 was diverted from the Road Fund to the Exchequer with £8,250,000 refunded in 1919 with a further £1,408,000 in 1921/22.

In 1920, The Roads Act, differentiated between cars and goods vehicles for taxation from January 1st 1921. Prior to then private cars and goods vehicles were taxed the same.

Winston Churchill's Budget of 1926 appropriated £7,000,000 from the Road Fund and made provision for one third of revenue from motor vehicle duty to be paid to the Exchequer. This was openly justified as protecting the railways from the growth of road transport. A wholly new revenue stream to the Exchequer was thereby initiated.

Churchill further raided the Road Fund in 1927 by transferring £12,000,000 to the Exchequer on the basis that the Road Fund had sufficient income and that temporary loans could be made to it if necessary.

Neville Chamberlain continued this trend in 1935, when he noted that the Road Fund had a credit balance of £4,470,000 and transferred the total to the Exchequer.

Chamberlain's Budget of 1936, repeated the transfer of all credit monies, £5,250,000, to the Exchequer. At the same time, provision was announced for the Exchequer to receive all future revenue from motor vehicle taxation. The Road Fund was required to submit annual estimates of expenditure and be funded from the Exchequer, based on these estimates, subject to Parliament's agreement.

The Crick Committee on the Form of Government Accounts recommended that the Road Fund be abolished as it served no useful purpose.

The Miscellaneous Financial Provisions Act, 1955 abolished the Road Fund.

Road Taxation Changes up to Abolition of the Road Fund.

DATE	FUEL DUTY	CAR LICENCE	GOODS VEHICLE LICENCE	PURCHASE TAX
1910	£0.0s.3d	£2.2s.0d-£42.0.0	as per cars	0
1915	0.0.6d
1921	tax repealed	1.0.0. per 1h.p.	10.0.0.- 40.0.0 based on unladen weight.
1927			10.0.0. - 60.0.0.
1928	0.0.4d
1929			8.0.0. - 48.0.0. pneumatic tyres only.
1931	0.0.6d (28/4/31) 0.0.8d (11/9/31)
1934			10.0.0. to 50.0.0. + 20.0.0 per ton over 4 tons (petrol) 35.0.0. to 150.0.0 + 25.0.0. per ton over 7 tons (diesel)
1935		0.15.0d per 1h.p.	differential tax abolished for diesel engines
1938	0.0.9d.
1940		1.5.0d per 1h.p.		33% cars / 0 commercial vehicles
1946			10.0.0 to 20.0.0 + 5.0.0 per 1/4 ton over 4 tons
1947		1.0.0d. per 100cc - registered after 1/1/47		33% under £1,280 retail price - 66% over £1,280. / 0 commercial vehicles
1948		10.0.0d flat rate cars - registered after 1/1/47
1950	0.1.6d			33% cars and commercial vehicles
1951	0.1.10d			66% cars / 33% commercial vehicles
1952	0.2.6d
1953		12.10.0d flat rate all cars		50% cars / 25% commercial vehicles
1955				60% cars / 30% commercial vehicles

Road Taxation Revenue and Expenditure

DATE	REVENUE, £	CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE, £	LOCAL AUTHORITY EXPENDITURE, £	TOTAL EXPENDITURE, £
1910	574,000	0	14,313,000	14,313,000
1911	1,078,000	13,000	14,618,000	14,631,000
1912	1,241,000	281,000	14,863,000	15,144,000
1913	1,359,000	467,000	15,409,000	15,876,000
1914	1,580,000	925,000	17,116,000	18,041,000
1915	1,868,000	1,293,000	16,846,000	18,139,000
1916	2,730,000	429,000	13,881,000	14,310,000
1917	3,048,000	255,000	11,958,000	12,213,000
1918	2,440,000	88,000	12,438,000	12,526,000
1919	3,336,000	87,000	13,515,000	13,602,000
1920	4,312,000	3,489,000	23,141,000	26,630,000
1921	10,205,000	5,179,000	37,869,000	42,048,000
1922	11,051,000	10,022,000	39,307,000	49,329,000
1923	12,584,000	13,467,000	36,698,000	50,165,000
1924	14,628,000	13,129,000	37,427,000	50,556,000
1925	16,485,000	15,234,000	41,275,000	56,509,000
1926	18,056,000	16,756,000	42,389,000	59,145,000
1927	29,393,000	24,613,000	34,024,000	58,637,000
1928	24,518,000	31,703,000	26,948,000	58,651,000
1929	37,671,000	17,658,000	39,472,000	57,130,000
1930	41,080,000	20,524,000	44,946,000	65,470,000
1931	42,921,000	27,894,000	38,479,000	66,373,000
1932	55,331,000	29,920,000	38,867,000	68,787,000
1933	62,053,000	24,308,000	29,645,000	53,953,000
1934	66,372,000	21,002,000	29,745,000	50,756,000
1935	69,336,000	19,951,000	31,550,000	51,501,000
1936	71,004,000	25,403,000	29,346,000	54,749,000
1937	75,406,000	28,204,000	30,324,000	58,528,000
1938	79,049,000	18,990,000	46,587,000	65,577,000
1939	87,223,000	20,559,000	44,028,000	64,627,000
1940	85,531,000	17,532,000	n/a	n/a
1941	n/a	11,476,000	n/a	n/a
1942	n/a	9,184,000	n/a	n/a
1943	n/a	8.978.000	n/a	n/a
1944	n/a	7,739,000	n/a	n/a
1945	n/a	7,901,000	28,998,000	36,899,000
1946	n/a	9,095,000	34,160,000	43,255,000
1947	105,997,000	16,896,000	47,927,000	64,823,000
1948	114,396,000	25,987,000	47,741,000	73,728,000
1949	116,716,000	23,569,000	48,591,000	72,160,000
1950	130,972,000	25,891,000	53,225,000	79,116,000
1951	212,807,000	25,130,000	55,440,000	80,570,000
1952	297,850,000	29,245,000	52,271,000	81,516,000
1953	360,958,000	33,035,000	52,993,000	86,028,000
1954	386,815,000	34,300,000	56,035,000	90,335,000
1955	423,180,000	39,453,000	60,744,000	100,197,000