"Pay As You Go" Road Tax

[A Worm OOE]

Does anyone out there actually understand the technology needed for this scheme. Iknow that in theory it is just a simple extension of GPS or Sat Nav systems but to put it into every car in the UK I just cant see it certainly not in the foreseeable future.

Do we really think that this is an actual plan or a bit of scaremongering to raise the profile of the problem.

[deanbmw]

imo the whole issue is just a slide of hand trick to make you feel that 90 odd pence a lt isnt so bad after all....So we'll all be threatend with this "pay as you drive" every time we kick off about rising fuel prices.

[Vagabond]

A Worm On One End........:

.....a bit of scaremongering to raise the profile of the problem.

Probably - after all the simplest "pay as you drive" scheme is a tax on fuel.

 

At present such a tax bears most heavily on the rural poor, so a differential tax is required.

 

It would be easy to arrange for different rates of tax at different filling stations (ie high tax in urban areas and on busy motorways, low tax in rural areas - and anyone daft enough to drive miles into the country looking for cheaper fuel would generate his/her own cost deterrent)

[chesters1]

our local garage has now closed,i suspected he'd have a problem when his pumps wouldnt go higher than 99.9p a litre!! a price he has charged for a year or so

i suspect any congestion in the area was from drivers not wishing to pay these inflated prices and going elsewhere :mad:

 

[ 09. June 2005, 08:03 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

Vagabond. I live in a rural area where I have to drive 16 miles to a decent size town. My last hospital appointment was 40 miles away.

 

Petrol is expensive here at 86p or thereabouts, but it often goes higher. I can see your point about varying levels of petrol tax but disagree with it on the following principle.

 

Redistribution of wealth though i.e. taking it off the (apparently) rich and giving it to the (apparently) poor is a dangerous practice and one with Brown does with some skill. It suits Labour who seek support from many areas that may benefit from such policy, but it is unfair. Poor people work in London, and poor people who have cars which are NEEDED for their job also live in London. Regardless of what the media tells us public transport is not practical for everyone, and even in London there is far from 100% coverage to suit everyones schedules.

 

Just because people like us that live in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, most of Yorkshire don't have the same level of public transport doesn't give us the right to take someone elses hard earned money so we can scoot around at a subsidised rate. It might seem unfair that we might buy a bit more petrol than most Southerners but our house prices are a fraction of the cost (typically) meaning we pay less of other taxes like stamp duties etc.

 

We have very distinct advantages living where we do, which country folk quickly seem to forget when the complain about public transport!!

[chesters1]

as this seems to be on the nations mind at the moment ,i suspect as usual its a government ploy to draw attention away from some other draconian law being pushed through somewhere ,remember on 11/9 certain official telling the government it was a good time to break to the country other nasty things (while the country was watching the twin tower episode) that had been passed through parliament ,strangly the finance bill is on its second reading at the moment i wonder what other things are being forced (and i use the word specifically) through the parliament whist we moan about a proposal that (as with most labour proposals) that will cost millions to try only to find it wont work

[Vagabond]

UKFT I think you miss the point - The intention of this government is to tax vehicle users who traverse congested areas.

 

If this is so, then I am saying that a differential fuel tax (ie low in rural areas - higher in urban areas) would be simpler to implement than differential road mileage rates imposed via satellite and a black box in every vehicle (plus of course the costs of policing and administering it all).

 

Anyone who thinks the main aim IS to relieve congestion is being naive. The main aim is to raise revenue (something Brown is VERY good at) just as the main purpose of speed cameras is to raise revenue, not enhance road safety.

 

This high tech proposal is from a government that can't get its IT systems right (NHS computers in disarray, CSA computers likewise, pensions and benefits muddles, Inland Revenue muddles, failure of immigrant/asylum-seekers tracking systems, etc etc)

 

Who can doubt that this proposed system will be well over budget, and stands a high chance of being abandoned as unworkable (after a lot of money has been wasted) Who will pay? The motorist of course.

 

UKFT - Which tax would you rather pay to drive your 16 miles to town? Fuel tax at my proposed lower level (bought at your local rural garage) or Road Toll Tax which in total would have to be much higher(than the combined cost of fuel tax and present road-tax disc).

 

Why? Because as well as the tax the government expects to get from you, you will have to pay (indirectly)for the blackbox costs, satellite costs, surveillance, administration and policing costs.

 

....and if this system comes in, do you REALLY believe that road tax discs and fuel tax will disappear completely? Pull the other one.

[Sportsman]

Vagabond

Ihave to agree. The practicalities of tracking every car on every road are beyond this (or any other) government and any revenue gained would be used to pay for the system, leaving fuel duty and road tax intact.

I remember when parking meters where first introduced. The revenue from them was to be used to pay for free off road parking

In fact the revenue from them goes on running and enforcing the system, and it would be the same thing here

Dave

 

[ 10. June 2005, 10:29 AM: Message edited by: Sportsman ]

[RUDD]

awaaar:

not one mention in the proposal about taking haulage off the roads....or making it that they can't travel on busy routes during peak times...

 

  :mad:      :mad:  

 

this would have been a real election winner if it came out in April - vote labour, you know it makes sense LOL

ERMMMMMMMMMMMM

 

Working for the biggest independant forwarding company in the uk delivering approx 300 containers a day and 2-300 LCL (bits and bobs) deliveries per day I can tell you now that we already struggle to find lorries and train space for them all thanks to overpriced fuel causing hundreds of haulage companies to fold.

 

 

Do any of you think these gizzmos will work.

An estimated 20 odd percent of cars on the UK roads DO NOT HAVE TAX, MOT or INSURANCE.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

I think the general idea is to encourage people and transport companies to use the roads at night when they are for the best part empty.

 

I travel to the south coast from Wales several times a year, I always travel in the early hours of the morning 1am to 4am.

 

Never get traffic jams, no wasting of fuel and creating extra pollution, no lorries blocking the lanes and slowing down everyone else.

 

Setting up admin will be the biggest problem, tech problems are easily addressed, gps is an everyday gismo.