Taxed by the Mile

[ALFAitalia]

Not all of us who have lived in the sticks live in any sort of a pile. I was born in the village I lived nearly 30 years in.....and it was only due to townies buying all the cottages (only 33 houses in the village) as second homes meaning locals could not get close to affording them that meant I had to move to a small town at all. We used to have one bus a day....and that was reduced to one a week (Thursday!)....nearest station? 6 miles. Even as a poor, back then, country boy I HAD to have a car and drive lots of miles. Hundreds of thousands in the same position.....paying by the mile (which IMO will never happen anyway due to cost and technical impracticalities ) would unfairly penalize all those people.

 

[markjay]

No one is, as far as I know, planning to tax single mothers, alcoholics, heavy smokers or the obese, by the mile.
But yes, if each chose to follow their particular path, the, they must accept responsibility for their actions.

I'm not sure that you can place all those who choose to live the rural idyll in the same social bracket as single mums.
If we extend your view of our 'social contract', if we are to consider everyone living in a rural location as needing our support, then count me in.
I need social support for my chosen path in life;
Apprenticeship, precision machinist, power generation, Eng'g Sales and European Training Manager. . . . .if Mr Rich Clogs needs help because he has chosen to live in a rural pile, then I sure as hell need help living in a house in an urban area.

Well, if we (effectively) start taxing people living far away from busy city centres, we'll simply be creating even more pressure on residential properties inside the cities, further increasing demand and inflating house prices. Not to mention creating even more traffic congestion. What we should be doing is encouraging those who can and want to move away from the city centres that are in high demand anyway.

 

[Darrell]

What we should be doing is encouraging those who can and want to move away from the city centres that are in high demand anyway.

And at the same time give them access to good, clean, safe and reliable public transport.

 

[Bellow]

Is there enough farming in towns and cities to provide food for the nation? Or are towns and cities still dependent on those living in rural locations for the food on their tables?

 

[Alex225]

It's not an if as the article implies it's a when. With every new car for last several years being connected to the manufacturer in some way for software updates etc. The mileage can be tracked and I have no doubt the location and where you're driving as well.

Also, look at these low emission zones. I am currently living (moving very soon) right on the bottom of the proposed ULEZ expansion. My road has 15 houses down it and leads no where. But they're putting up a ULEZ camera at the end which I believe has CCTV installed. This is going along every road along the edge of the zone. It's invasive but they will see exactly when we pull off our driveway.

If it was simply a case of clocking how many miles you've driven, that wouldn't be so bad. I'd pay less for my CL500 to do a small number of miles than my Saab in which I do 12k a year.

What doesn't sit with me is that the powers that be will be monitoring, where you drive, how often and if 15 minute cities are as ominous as they appear you'll be charged for driving in specific areas.

Sorry, I ended up on a long rant there. The principle I agree with, the method it is rolled out remains to be seen.