Budget 2006 - Vehicle Tax

[GrahamC230K]

Can if you get the scheme started before April 5th. Also, existing schemes are ok.

PJ

I would imagine so. No more in the future though. I can't think what the problem was there - I thought the government was backing a PC and internet connection in every home?!

 

[imadoofus]

I would imagine so. No more in the future though. I can't think what the problem was there - I thought the government was backing a PC and internet connection in every home?!

The problem was it was too successful. This move will save them £150m per year (!) Apparently though, it wasn't necessarily benefitting the lowest paid, for whom it was originally designed.

PJ

 

[Rose Chap]

We all used to manage perfectly well without cars (even those that lived in the country)...

You're right Andy! Back in the good old days when we lived in caves and chased after sabre tooth tigers to eat we never had these annoying issues with car tax!

Curse all this progress!

 

[glojo]

hmmm let's see

At the risk of stating the bl**ding obvious.........move (at least nearer to the bus stop)

The village we come from had a beautiful village store, post office, buthers, bakers etc. etc. Now it has nothing, not even a bus service, oh it does have a primary scool, but no secondary school.

I have the priviledge of knowing you, and your remarks are not travelling very well. My relatives love the village, love the village way of life, but a car is a requirement, not a luxury. There are families that do not have cars, but they rely on neighbours and their goodwill. The nearest doctors six miles, nearest hospital 20 miles and no bus routes.

A luxury is when you drive 200 yards to simply avoid having a new perm blown out of shape.

John

 

[Dieter]

Hi,

This is not really an increase in Road Tax as some (many) car owners will pay less. The revenue has just been shifted to bigger, more expensive vehicles.

We all agree it's going to have little effect on any of us but with inevitable increases in fuel prices (after all we can all see the end of carbon based energy production) will gradually turn many drivers to higher mpg vehicles.

Better this approach than the draconian 'Green' approach of instant £1000 and above road fund licenses.

I also agree that placing tax burden on fuel usage i.e. in price is a much fairer way (and can't be fiddled ) of paying (for personal CO2 production) as fuel used is a function both of fuel efficiency AND distance travelled.

Also ridding the roads of uninsured/untaxed/unlicensed drivers etc.would result in a significant lowering of fuel usage (AND Government revenue ). So why not issue insurance stickers as has been mentioned before?

Cheers,

 

[Shude]

Better this approach than the draconian 'Green' approach of instant £1000 and above road fund licenses.

The greens would be better off trying to get £1000 added to every plane ticket to discourage air travel - that's where a LOT of so-called greenhouse gases are coming from and rather than being released next to trees etc at ground level (like cars) they're being dumped in the atmosphere where they will just accumulate!

 

[Thmsshaun]

A car is a luxury. People have become dependant on them, simple as. Much the same as mobile phones and the internet.

If people didnt have cars then these small village stores would still be required. As they would be getting the trade to keep them all open. People travelling to the towns and cities in the cars is what has killed off these villages. No cars in the village. I am pretty sure there would soon be a bus service running through it.

 

[sportyreptile]

Yes, aircraft cause a lot of cloud cover trapping heat on the surface.

I read somewhere that immediately after 9-11 when aircraft were grounded over the USA they had the sunniest days with the bluest skies for years, this is fairly subjective and I don't recall scientific evidence to back it up. The statements were made by the US Met Office though, so they have some weight behind them.

 

[grober]

Trees implicated in greenhouse gas conundrum

Just to show how complex a problem global warming is. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2006/January/12010601.asp

 

[Satch]

We all used to manage perfectly well without cars (even those that lived in the country) but we've got lazy or in some cases become so dependent on a luxury that we now class it as an essential and that is why it is such an easy target for revenue grabbing governments, car park owners etc etc etc

Andy

It is essential unless we go back to the old economic model of workers living with close to workplace and having local shops. We passed the stage of public transport being even faintly possible as a substitute for widespread individual mobility (other than in or between cities/big towns) sometime in the 1960's.

Now I have a friend who is a militant cyclist. A daily rail commuter into London and he refuses to use a car unless absolutely necessary, for example to the extent of shopping expeditions being family cycling affairs with children pressed into service as pack mules. When he travels on business takes his fold up bike with him to avoid using taxis. As a result his car usage was very low.

The he was reassigned to a local office. No choice: move or leave. Moving not even an option.

New workplace is 20 miles due East from his home. Could cycle a 40 mile round trip but on a daily basis?. He spent weeks exploring possible public transport routes that could be used in conjuction with bike. The "best" option would have involved a 2 1/2 hour journey each way, being by trainswith much waiting for connections and required 10 miles of cycling on his fold up bike as you can no longer take full size bikes on trains. Cost would have been around £215 per month.

In the end had to concede defeat and now drives.

 

[saorbust]

Yes, aircraft cause a lot of cloud cover trapping heat on the surface.

I read somewhere that immediately after 9-11 when aircraft were grounded over the USA they had the sunniest days with the bluest skies for years, this is fairly subjective and I don't recall scientific evidence to back it up. The statements were made by the US Met Office though, so they have some weight behind them.

Nope - it was also featured on an episode of horizon, since they had three days without air polution. Scientific fact - photos from space. See link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/dimming_trans.shtml

Called 'Global Dimming'

 

[Alfie]

hmmm let's see

At the risk of stating the bl**ding obvious.........move (at least nearer to the bus stop)

Again, it's personal choice, you choose to live in the country rather than a place with good (or even adequate) public transport.

We all used to manage perfectly well without cars (even those that lived in the country) but we've got lazy or in some cases become so dependent on a luxury that we now class it as an essential and that is why it is such an easy target for revenue grabbing governments, car park owners etc etc etc

Andy

Andy,

I agree with some of what you say but if someone is unable to walk well through disability they still have the right to live where they like and enjoy freedom of movement as much as they can. To suggest someone move just to be nearer a bus stop is a bit unfair. It costs thousands of pounds to move home so where will the saving be?

 

[saorbust]

I also agree that placing tax burden on fuel usage i.e. in price is a much fairer way (and can't be fiddled ) of paying (for personal CO2 production) as fuel used is a function both of fuel efficiency AND distance travelled.

Agree with your thoughts, but then I think you misunderstand the purpose of the road tax license. Its to track the vehicle and its owner - ie, you. Not to tax you for using it. The fact that the payment is now related to the co2 output of the vehicle is just how the government has used the green message to cover up other activity.

The 'Insurance Disc' is also a superb argument. I would think this makes perfect sense. However whoever let common sense get in the way of a good idea. I think the insurance DB going electronic and crossing outside of companies (ie, in the way you can now renew your tax disc online by verification of your insurance status) may mean this becomes possible soon enough. The EU has already made sure that your insurance certificate is valid abroad - check the back of it. Given a chance....

 

[Shude]

mandatory 3rd party insurance included in the "tax disc" would also be a good idea, in use in lots of other countries.

 

[glojo]

If people didnt have cars then these small village stores would still be required. As they would be getting the trade to keep them all open. People travelling to the towns and cities in the cars is what has killed off these villages. No cars in the village. I am pretty sure there would soon be a bus service running through it.

Excellent point, can't argue with that.

That's the problem with this forum, some folks listen as well as talk

John

 

[glojo]

Nope - it was also featured on an episode of horizon, since they had three days without air polution. Scientific fact - photos from space. See link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/dimming_trans.shtml

Called 'Global Dimming'

I also read some literature on this, along with statistical points that compared the safety of air travel against travelling by road road.

John

 

[dagd]

At the end of the day, Road Tax, car tax, VAT on repairs etc. is charged to balance the books. If we all got rid of our cars etc tomorrow, the shortfall would be lumped onto other things we need and use daily. It's not new, schools etc have to be paid for, cash has to be generated. Was it two or three hundred years ago that window tax came in? people bricked their windows them up to avoid paying.

By the way, anyone remember Taxman by the Beatles in the 60's? still applies! Except the line "tax the air" well not yet, but give it time!

 

[jeremytaylor]

mandatory 3rd party insurance included in the "tax disc" would also be a good idea, in use in lots of other countries.

Excellent idea. The only losers would be the insurance industry as probably more people would rely on this basic cover only, and they would lose out by selling less fully comp. insurance.

So don't be surprised if you find out that the insurance industry lobby government hard against this. Why, they may even be lenders to the Labour Party.

 

[jeremytaylor]

Nope - it was also featured on an episode of horizon, since they had three days without air polution. Scientific fact - photos from space. See link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/dimming_trans.shtml

Called 'Global Dimming'

This basically says that emissions are leading to more clouds that reflect the suns heat back into space, and so if we cut back on emissions, and therefore have less of the suns heat reflected into space the amount of CO2 already in the atmosphere will mean rampant global warming.

So, best not swap your lovely Merc for a bicycle after all, just keep on polluting to prevent global warming. Wonder what Greenp*ss will make of that!!

 

[gary350]

What really gets on my nerves is the money I earn/get is taxed what I can put away as savings is taxed, my pension is taxed, when I die my inheritance is taxed the car I bought is taxed, the petrol I use is taxed, I will pay about 210 for car tax and the roads around here are slowly getting to look like the roads around Irag on a bad day.
Anyone else feel that all goverment employees should use public transport (even MPs etc). Today is not a good day but there is always tomorrow and another tax bill.

gary