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Kev_Mc

18 Oct 2003, 18:29

The poor old Government only raises £40 billion a year from us greedy road users - and lavishes £8bn of that back on the roads. (That's right..... a whole £8bn!!) Not sure where the £32bn goes, but hey ho, it's only our money.

They now want to raise road tax for the higher CO2 producing cars.

If my car does 14mpg, surely they are reaping in more tax already through fuel tax. The less economical, the more you pay at the pump, the more goes to the government.

Hurrah to the Government for yet another superb idea. Us motorists can take it!

Tax me, tax me, tax me!

I'm sure the amount the railways need to sort themselves out is less than that £32bn. In fact it is only £8bn. There you go Gordon, problem solved and with £24bn to spare!

Steve McF

19 Oct 2003, 01:52

Kev,

I'm only guessing, but I think they are probably going to target cars with large V8s in them, like Jags and Land Rover...well I hope so, as I'm quite happy with my 2 Litre 9-5, and the insurance and warranty alone keep my bank manager on his toes!!

You're quite right though. All this money in road tax, fuel duty etc, exactly WHERE is it all going?

I thought the whole idea behind privatising everything over the last 20 years meant that we should in theory be paying less tax now.....or have we all been conned somewhere along the way??

Woofage

19 Oct 2003, 06:35

Personally I think it's a good idea. People should learn to take responsibility over their purchases and if it takes a new taxation scheme to make them think then so be it. I think the showroom labelling system is also a good one, although I can't imagine it will deter that many potential X and ML customers - those people are too far gone to regain any compassion for those that they share the planet with, IMHO.

Adrian

20 Oct 2003, 07:30

Yep thats it target just those 'few' in the big gaz guzzlers to start with. As long as they only pick on a minority of voters first they will get away with it, then slowly move the new tax down to smaller engines until eveything over 850cc is covered - brilliant

Of course Kevin is spot on - gaz guzzlers pay more in petrol tax - a whole lot more, in fact more each time they fill the their tank than this one of tax

Why do people fall for it?

nigpem

22 Oct 2003, 10:01

question is, will it be done faily or strictly on engine size...as i know for a fact that my modded 9-5 2.0lpt is a lot cleaner burning than the majority of cars with a lot smaller engines...if this is the case and they aim to replace the existing exise duty with it..then i say bring it on...all of us SAAB owners will be laughing

Mark in Ireland

22 Oct 2003, 18:06

Why don't they just put a road tax on fuel and get rid of the 12 month licence...you clear the tax dodgers out immediately, and the more you drive or if your car is un-economical then you pay more. I have 3 road worthy cars and 2 roadworthy motorbikes but I have to tax all of them when I can only drive or ride one at a time. But put the tax on petrol and it would certainly assist me.

Axl

23 Oct 2003, 10:46

QUOTE

Originally posted by Mark in Ireland:
[qb]Why don't they just put a road tax on fuel and get rid of the 12 month licence...you clear the tax dodgers out immediately, and the more you drive or if your car is un-economical then you pay more. I have 3 road worthy cars and 2 roadworthy motorbikes but I have to tax all of them when I can only drive or ride one at a time. But put the tax on petrol and it would certainly assist me. [/qb]

Mark I said exectly that to my mate e few weeks ago. And his reply was, so what heppens to those people who dont drive & have no intention of doing so, lets say they have a petrol mower to cut their grass, thay then pay "road tax" they way you are suggesting.
Then they would complain, I dont know how gordon brown is going work this out. But he'll need to do something, because people are very,very P/O to say the least.
As for these bloody road tolls, what the hell are we paying road for, to travel on the roads, duh!

Mark in Ireland

23 Oct 2003, 13:12

QUOTE

lets say they have a petrol mower to cut their grass

They should still pay as this is an environmental issue....my chain saws probably emit a damn site more pollutants than any of my cars do so paying extra on the fuel to run them would be justifiable. Mind you they are quite economical...getting 20 trees/gallon

/john

23 Oct 2003, 15:41

QUOTE

Originally posted by Mark in Ireland:
[qb] Mind you they are quite economical...getting 20 trees/gallon [/qb]

clearly economical - but not environmentally friendly!

Adrian

24 Oct 2003, 07:30

Mark is spot on, 2-stroke engine in things like chain-saw and particularly snowmobiles etc are very bad pollution wise and as for aircraft well. But hey the motorist is an easy target

Adrian

24 Oct 2003, 07:33

QUOTE

The "nonroad" recreational vehicles and industrial engines that are the subject of the new emission standards due today have never before been subject to regulation under the federal Clean Air Act. According to EPA, each year pollution from these engines produce about 4.9 million tons of carbon monoxide, nearly 1 million tons of hydrocarbons, 340,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 8 thousand tons of particulates. This reflects about 13% of the hydrocarbon emissions from all mobile sources and about 6% of the mobile source carbon monoxide emissions. Further, according to the California Air Resources Board, today's typical 2-stroke snowmobile engine produces as much harmful pollution in seven hours as a passenger car driven for 100,000 miles. Earlier this year, the Bush Administration reversed the Clinton Administration's ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

StephenA

24 Oct 2003, 07:47

To be honest this is only the thin edge of the wedge on things like this. In the canal boating world thousands of owners (myself included) are facing the fact that the next time anything goes wrong with our engines that we will not be able to get them repaired, they will have to be removed and replaced (at a cost of £7-8K) because the EU/UK government have decreed that their emission levels are not acceptable at all. The engine most affected by this is the old BMC diesel which was taken off road use in the 70s because of its emission levels.

So beware....sooner or later someone is going to find that they can't get their old Saab 99 engine repaired for the same reasons

Steve

Mark in Ireland

24 Oct 2003, 08:29

Thanks for that bit of info Steve...I'm looking to buy a Narrow Boat soon.....will pay closer attention to the engine now.

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