Reply to: bicycle tax disc

[Peoplesoft bloke]

But lowering or nullifying tax completely on small modern cars is a great move and I think the average person would be interested in choosing a car with lower tax given a choice between otherwise similar models.

Yeah, much better to do nothing until you can implement a perfect solution in one go. Maybe in the Tory utopia ushered in next year we'll see such idealism come to pass

Encouraging people to buy more new stuff is wasteful and misleading and will not save the planet. As for your ridiculous straw man - I didn't advocate doing nothing. I said the government were doing too little of the wrong things - and I expect the Tories will be the same.

[d000hg]

People driving big 4x4s (especially newer ones) aren't really discouraged by high road and fuel taxes so it's really just a cynical exercise in grabbing cash for the government and allowing people who like to sneer at people in Range Rovers to maintain an illusion that something's being done.

If they only increased the prices on such cars then I guess you can see it that way. But lowering or nullifying tax completely on small modern cars is a great move and I think the average person would be interested in choosing a car with lower tax given a choice between otherwise similar models.

"pollution" does not equal "emissions" alone.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be more responsible - just that the government isn't serious about this - they haven't taken the really radical and unpopular steps that they'd need to if they were. They are just playing at it.

Yeah, much better to do nothing until you can implement a perfect solution in one go. Maybe in the Tory utopia ushered in next year we'll see such idealism come to pass

[EddieNambulous]

Even better...and would keep the tourists well-behaved...

they'd make a fortune with a troll in Hyde park...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Well, whilst license is the Americanised spelling of licence, what if the OP was American, and therefore expressing in his or her natural language ?

If a Brit was to write on an American forum, would you use license or licence, and why ?

They aren't.

[threaded]

All bicycles should have number plates. And need a cycling license.

I feel sorry for them with their car issues. But there is a minority of lycra lous who treat the pavement like they own it and give cyclists a bad name.

These lycra louts need sorting out. Except threaded of course.

I thank you.

Many cyclists that break the rules are doing so because it is safer than following them. Lycra lout might give you a bit of a fright and might hit the occasional pedestrian, but actually it is safer for everyone.

Example: more female cyclists are killed and injured at traffic lights than men, even though more men cycle, because women tend to follow the rules and stop for the lights, whereas men tend to jump onto the pavement and over the pedestrian crossing or just run the lights.

Also, just for giggles, I'll mention the interesting statistic that people who physically try to stop lycra lout tend to have a poorer than average driving record.

[Board Game Geek]

Well, whilst license is the Americanised spelling of licence, what if the OP was American, and therefore expressing in his or her natural language ?

If a Brit was to write on an American forum, would you use license or licence, and why ?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

All bicycles should have number plates. And need a cycling license.
These lycra louts need sorting out. Except threaded of course.

And may I see your license for using them?

LICENCE FFS

[Bagpuss]

For what it's worth, the tax-free status of low-polluting cars is one policy I quite like, as is high tax for idiots who drive monstrous 4x4s. Go Labour

Where does the Lexus Hybrid fit in, that's a large 4x4 but emissions are very low?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I can't speak for every model of car, but am pretty sure you can draw a clear trendline on tax Vs emissions.

Incorrect.

You can draw a line between tax and CO2 emissions as calculated by the government. But, even on current figures, 10% of the CO2 emmisions from each car occur in manufacture, and a further 5% in the process of recycling at the end of it's use (not necessarily viable life). That's on current figures, so we could save loads, in pollution, CO2 and natural resources by cutting back massively on new cars and keeping the ones we have longer - especially since a 10 year old car today used a huge amount of Co2 in manufacturing and is costly in Co2 terms to scrap.

People driving big 4x4s (especially newer ones) aren't really discouraged by high road and fuel taxes so it's really just a cynical exercise in grabbing cash for the government and allowing people who like to sneer at people in Range Rovers to maintain an illusion that something's being done.

Oh yes, and zero road tax for electric cars, for example, ignores the Co2 taken in their manufacture and the power generation for their charging, aside from the very nasty effects of the heavy metals and other nasties used in battery technology.

"pollution" does not equal "emissions" alone.

I'm not saying we shouldn't be more responsible - just that the government isn't serious about this - they haven't taken the really radical and unpopular steps that they'd need to if they were. They are just playing at it.

Why don't they tax aviation fuel? How come public transport's so expensive?

[d000hg]

I can't speak for every model of car, but am pretty sure you can draw a clear trendline on tax Vs emissions.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

For what it's worth, the tax-free status of low-polluting cars is one policy I quite like, as is high tax for idiots who drive monstrous 4x4s. Go Labour

Except

They aren't "low polluting" at all. It is a cynical piece of politics that doesn't address the actual issues AT ALL. Still it makes self rightous ignoramouses feel smug.

[d000hg]

For what it's worth, the tax-free status of low-polluting cars is one policy I quite like, as is high tax for idiots who drive monstrous 4x4s. Go Labour

[realityhack]

So, an efficient modern car can be exempt from tax due to low emissions. But bikes need to be taxed for the high amount of wear they cause the roads?

I love how this is being considered as part of a scheme to get more people cycling rather than driving.

EDIT: a tax stupidity we can't blame Labour for, Cyberman would have some comment about the Scots no doubt.

Excellent point.

[DS23]

the latest is a tax on tax.

labour are proposing tax brackets where the higher your tax band the more you tax tax you need to pay.

the tories are doing the same only the other way around.

[Paddy]

I'm sure a pedestrian tax is somewhere on the New Labour agenda.

PC Plod: "are those shoes taxed and insured Sir?"

In the late nineties it was proposed by Labour to charge pedestrians for using city centre shopping streets. They were going to experiment with Oxford Street.