Today we learn some new Review is looking at how to increase motoring taxes more to "curb carbon outputs". Apparently they think the way to do this is to increase taxes on older and bigger cars to force people to switch to smaller and newer ones. This idea ignores the large carbon outputs of making a new smaller car, let alone the impact more car production has on other resources of the earth. If these people were truly green they would take all that into account as well. I guess the true reason is they have been told to report before the budget in the Spring with a long list of higher motoring taxes, because Darling has plenty of ways to waste the money and does not think he can get by with just his current rip off tax burden. No wonder people are cynical about this government’s "green" taxes, because so often they do not make the world greener, they just make the Treasury fatter with out money.
At the same time we learn of plans to increase speeding penalties to 6 points in certain cases.They make the correct observation that doing 60 in a 30 mph area can in some cases be dangerous, whereas doing 79 on a motorway is judged safe by most motorists, and say they wish to penalise the one more than the other. They never think that maybe the thing to do is to lessen the penalty on the motorway offender who is not doing anything dangerous as most people see it, judging by all the cars that pass me when doing 70.I guess here they are aware that our roads are too crowded, so they are hoping that they can take a lot of people off the roads by removing their licences after a couple of speeding offences.
I wold take all this anti motoring passion more seriously if Ministers all gave up their cars and showed the rest of us how you can go shopping by train or how you can get to your business appointments by bus.
November 10, 2007
There could well come a time in the near future when the economic life of the country is affected by the number of its citizens who are thrown out of work because their licences have been taken away from them.
November 10, 2007
They believe that they will price people out of their cars. This is fine in our large cities with good transport services, but it is sheer madness to believe we in Wokingham could get about on public transport.
Again, in order to get people onto public transport it needs to be affordable, available and safe. Buses start too late to get non office people to work and stop running befor people even go out of an evening, let alone for the journey home. There are gangs of intimedating drunken teenagers on many of the services that do run especially at weekends. Railway stations are unmanned and full of teenagers.
The fares are sky high….Seaford Rd to Broad Street
November 10, 2007
So they want to increase my taxes on my old car? If they clobber me for having an old car I’m going to clobber them back buy stocking up on all my booze and cigars from France and Spain – enough is enough!
November 10, 2007
The motorist is an easy target in any country at any time for any government. Cheap food, fuel, housing, government.
In Canada the Conservatives are on par politicaly with the Greens and by the United Nations the best county in the world to live in!?!
November 11, 2007
After the initial anger I thought more about the idea of increasing taxes on old cars.
Surely the used market would correct itself for this extra tax burden, meaning that the owners of large old cars would be losing extra money through depreciation, which would be effectively hoovered up by the treasury.
The price of big old cars would go down further than it already is. No one would throw away a perfectly good car, the market will simply discount the new taxes into the price of the big old car. The new lower prices of big old cars will attract new buyers.
Big old cars are already very cheap. You can buy a good seven year old BMW 7 series, an Audi A8 or a Jaguar XJ8 for
November 12, 2007
John is correct that the energy cost of building new cars should be taken into account, but so should the ineficiency of old cars. So much fuel is wasted, a newer small car will save money and fuel, and pollute less.
Its a myth that the cars are getting more expensive, compared to other transport its getting cheaper. And much older cars 'lassic cars' are tax free, buy something before 1973 and pay no car tax. Or buy something with a very small engine and pay
November 12, 2007
Forget diesel, hybrid, bangers, and small cars. Allow Baz to enlighten you as to the cheapest way to get around, and maybe save the planet, or at least do your bit in a family sized car. Drum roll for the fours……..!
A four year old ex-business man Mondeo for four grand with forty thousand motorway miles, from a main Ford dealer. No risk, full service history, with a four month warranty.
Keep the car pefectly maintained with your friendly inexpensive local Indian garage. Easy to repeat anywhere.