Car tax, tax on petrol, stuff like that...

all new Phil · Tue 25 Apr, 2006 14.05

With news once again of petrol coming close to topping the £1 a litre mark, I'm interested to hear what what everyone thinks of this...

I, personally, am not too bothered to be honest with you. Yes, it's expensive, and a lot cheaper in other countries, but I'm sure it all balances out somehow, and to me it's the fairest way of taxing - the more you use a car and the more powerful it is, the more you end up paying.

I would go as far as saying that cat tax should be abolished and we were taxed purely through tax on petrol. It seems to make sense to me.

What do you all think? What alternatives would you propose?

marksi · Tue 25 Apr, 2006 14.08

Get a motorbike.

Sput · Tue 25 Apr, 2006 14.57

Here's a thought...

all new Phil · Tue 25 Apr, 2006 15.07

God you've made me look like Anthony Alldritt. Maybe I should stick to London buses.

rts · Tue 25 Apr, 2006 15.22

Sput wrote:

Almost a work equal to the likes of Beau Bo D'Or.

tvmercia · Tue 25 Apr, 2006 21.19

i find the car tax system archaic and a nightmare. having to get to a post office (not just any post office mind, it has to be a special one), with the right 3 pieces of paper, on the right day (you cant just go when you get your car tax reminder ... oh no, it has to be 14 days or less until the expiry date). for those of us with full time jobs and who tend to use the weekend for socialising, and not queuing up in a post office, its a big hassle.

the premise of cutting out and displaying a little paper disk is all rather out dated. if they must have a car tax, seeing as MOTs are all computerised these days, and there must be a database of insured cars, surely there could be a tv licence style direct debit system set up, with us just receiving a document through the post every 12 months.

if there was a viable alternative to car travel i would be able to see the sense in the car tax/road fuel duty system, but unfortunately in this part of the country an alternative does not exist. buses once every half hour and the buses to the train station are the same.

Square Eyes · Tue 25 Apr, 2006 22.05

tvmercia wrote:i find the car tax system archaic and a nightmare. having to get to a post office (not just any post office mind, it has to be a special one), with the right 3 pieces of paper, on the right day (you cant just go when you get your car tax reminder ... oh no, it has to be 14 days or less until the expiry date). for those of us with full time jobs and who tend to use the weekend for socialising, and not queuing up in a post office, its a big hassle.

Oh get with it, it can all be done online now. Save yourself the hassle.

Nick Harvey · Tue 25 Apr, 2006 22.20

Must say I like the new online system.

Used it last time round for the not-so-red racer. It knows whether you're insured, provided you signed the data disclaimer the last time you renewed, and knows whether you've got a test certificate if you need one.

Much better than having to find the "main" post office for your area, which is normally in an area where parking's about £5 a minute.

pete917 · Wed 26 Apr, 2006 00.30

I dont mind so much that petrol rises, but only if road tax is taken away altogether. Road tax reflects in no way how much an individual uses the road network. Nor for that matter are the road taxes collected spent on our road network.

The more petrol you use is a fairly good approximation for the amount you use the network and therefore a cost effective approach to taxing the poor old motorist. Why then is the government even thinking about spending millions on a complex system of tagging and tracking vehicles to measure how much we drive our cars for road tax calculation purposes. Not only is that a waste of money, someone will figure out how to beat it anyway!

Thats my gripe anyway!

Pete

rdobbie · Wed 26 Apr, 2006 03.54

all new Phil wrote:With news once again of petrol coming close to topping the £1 a litre mark, I'm interested to hear what what everyone thinks of this...
....What alternatives would you propose?

I'd propose slashing fuel duty to bring the price of petrol down to about 60p/litre. Fuel duty is a tax on personal freedom, and if hits the poor where it hurts. And no, I wouldn't do this by sacking teachers or doctors or ripping little babies out of incubators in specialist cancer units - I'd achieve this saving by sacking all the consultants and the grossly incompetant and ineffective civil servant pen pushers who cost us billions of pounds every year.

Pete · Wed 26 Apr, 2006 08.10

pete917 wrote:The more petrol you use is a fairly good approximation for the amount you use the network and therefore a cost effective approach to taxing the poor old motorist.

ah but.

If someone in the city wishes to go to Tesco (an essential trip) it would be about 2/3 miles. If I want to go to Tesco, it's 27 miles each way.

So how do you propose that people who actually NEED their cars are not unfairly taxed compared to those who use their cars for no reason when they have a perfectly good public transport system at their disposal. I've heard city folk complain about only having *one bus an hour* - well I have two buses a day during the school hols.