The Right to Drive
So a group of MPs is “sceptical” of proposed increases to car tax – and so they should be. Clearly this is not about encouraging motorists to use “greener” cars – but is all about raising more money to pay for everything BUT transport.
The mere fact that this tax is retrospective says everything – how can taxing someone who ALREADY has the car encourage them to “go green”? Are they supposed to scrap their car and buy a new one??
Taxing NEW cars BEFORE we buy them – and based purely on efficiency is the only way to go – and that money should either fund research or support UK research into more efficient or alternative fuel engines – but that’s only going to happen in our dreams. Looking at the list – BMWs are to be taxed makes me think this is more about class warfare than transport greening… I don’t know if they’ve changed recently but they used to be fairly efficient compared to say your average Ford. I’ve a Mercedes that easily does 40mph but I’ll bet that gets the hammer too. Tim Yeo says “we don’t want them to stop driving” – sure, Mr Yeo – the party faithful may believe you but no-one else will.
Getting us all out of our cars and onto public transport would suit this controlling government down to the ground. I’m currently returning from a break in Spain and like elsewhere – fuel is STILL cheaper here than the UK – though not by as much as it was. Back home a couple of weeks ago I was paying £1.30 for diesel, over here it’s that or less in EUROS.
The fact is that the government simply wants to take money of anyone who can pay it – and they don’t care how fair or “green” they are. They’ve pretty much exhausted every other way of squeezing money out of taxpayers. We’re paying more for FUEL than elsewhere in Europe and now they want us to pay more for CARS. Anyone who’s been to parts of Spain recently will have been blown away by the quality of the roads – every road you see (even sometimes in rural areas) is brand, spanking new. No cameras, few police and even the speed limits here are slightly faster on motorways. If the UK government gets extra cash does anyone really think they’ll use it to improve our roads? More likely they’ll use it to buy more cameras so they can get even more money out of those of us they deem suitable for squeezing. This has to stop.