Read carefully and act on the link

[Alex MacLeod]

a petition that you may want to sign very quickly and pass on to as many people as possible.  Please read below. 

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Subject: FW: ROAD TAX

If you drive a car, please read -

Sarah Kennedy was talking about this proposed car tax scheme on Radio 2.  Apparently there is only one month left to register your objection to the 'Pay As You Go' road tax.

The petition is on the 10 Downing St website but they didn't tell anybody about it. Therefore at the time of Sarah's comments only 250,000 people had signed it  and 750,000 signatures are required for the goverment to at least take any notice.

Once you've given your details (you don't have to give your full address, just house number and postcode will do), they will send you an email with a link in it. Once you click on that link, you'll have signed the petition.

The government's proposal to introduce road pricing will mean you having to purchase a tracking device for your car and paying a monthly bill to use it. The tracking device will cost about £200 and in a recent study by the BBC, the lowest monthly bill was £28 for a rural florist and £194 for a delivery driver. A non working mother who used the car to take the kids to school paid £86 in one month.

On top of this massive increase in tax, you will be tracked. Somebody will know where you are at all times. They will also know how fast you have been going, so even if you accidentally creep over a speed limit in time you can probably expect a Notice of Intended Prosecution with your monthly bill.

If you are concerned about this Orwellian plan and want to stop the constant bashing of the car driver, please sign the petition on No 10's new website (link below) and pass this on to as many people as possible.  Sign up if you value your freedom and democratic rights -

Government petition

[Action Man]

Or you could just vote SNP in May.... :023:

[caley100]

Just checked and signed Alex, its now 1.2 million sigs....

[CaleyD]

I agree with the principles of the proposal but think it has been taken too far in terms of the costs.

Someone who drives 50,000 a year should definitely have to pay a higher tax than someone who drives 5000 IMO.

Haven't read the article, but I believe some insurance companies in Ireland already use such a device for young/new drivers in order to help curtail speeding and to offer "safe" drivers a reduced premium based on their actual driving habits and not those of your stereotype/group you so happen to slot into and again, this is a good thing IMO.

[caley100]

  'Someone who drives 50,000 a year should definitely have to pay a higher tax than someone who drives 5000 IMO'

Any driver doing that kind of mileage is paying a **** of a lot more tax by way of the petrol they use.

[Alex MacLeod]

and considering 78% of the price of fuel is tax thats a lot of sheckles.

CD, dont know if you've ever driven in Ireland. The Irish have the worlds most effective methods of speed control. They dont fill the potholes.

The principles of this proposal are nothing to do with environmental or safety issues. They are about stealth taxes and big brother spying.

Those gadgets, fitted to vehicles, that will tell the excise men how many miles you drove will also tell the police if you went above the speed limit, parked illegally, where you came from and where you went.

My wife and I drive around 10000 miles a year. From every pound we earn between us the government gets 74% back. Do we really need to pay more taxes. I think not.

[EWS]

I wondered when this would pop up on here.

It is a fake, the government is not even thinking about introducing this - it is highly illegal and would not be allowed.

There was a massive thing about this over the weekend in the papers.

[Alex MacLeod]

Then come tuesday morning GMTV reported it wasn't a fake and the petition is on an official government website.

[CaleyD]

  'Someone who drives 50,000 a year should definitely have to pay a higher tax than someone who drives 5000 IMO'

Any driver doing that kind of mileage is paying a **** of a lot more tax by way of the petrol they use.

Fine, then scrap Road Tax and collect all taxes via the pump - that would be the fairest solution as it hits those who choose to drive thirsty vehicles and/or high mileages.  If they want to compensate those living/working/operating in rural areas then I am sure they can put systems in place similar to those that they have for those operating public transport services etc.

Also, not only would it be a fairer system, it would remove the need for almost an entire government department, saving money which could be spent on the roads....well we can but hope.

As for the argument that X% of the price is tax and how much of "our" money we give back to the government  in this fashion - I always find it quite laughable that it is always viewed as a one way street.  Yes we give money back in tax, but we also get it back again in things like the NHS etc etc.  Now I'm not arguing that we get value for money, but these things don't pay for themselves.  It takes a certain amount of money to run the country and the government will get that out  of us all one way or another.  What one person argues is the right way is only right for them, it may be crippling for someone else.  The tax system will never be totally fair for everyone all of the time, but it tends to go in swings and roundabouts depending on who's in power and over a lifetime we'll all see tax breaks or tax burdens even out among the population in general.

I'm not saying I like taxes or necessarily agree with them, but the argument as I see it is more to do with how they spend it, not how they collect it.

And yes, I have had the pleasure of driving in Ireland, they have a very scarey "overtaking system" whereby the roads are just wide enough for 3 cars but are only 2 lanes.  You just pull out and pass and everyone else is suppose to get out of the way.  First time I witnessed it I about chit meself.

[Alex MacLeod]

CD I've driven on roads like that in this country. That type of road tends to be on approaches to bigger towns and cities and usually on fairly long straight stretches. Try driving around the rural areas of the west coast of Ireland. Lots of windy roads that are bairly wide enough for two cars. There is no speeding cos everyone is so laid back that they dont want to get where there going too soon. Even on the N1/M1 between Belfast and Dublin speeding is very rare.

[Action Man]

Just received my reply from Tony Blair, quite lengthy but I can offer a short version.

We intend shafting you anyway but with an election coming up we have decided to say that we are only looking at proposals, however first chance we get we will get it right up ya. And anyway that will be Gordons problem. Briefly!

My governement do not care about anything above Watford, where rural communities have no alternative to the car, that is your own fault for living above the Watford gap. No decent rail or bus service, tough, you can just pay the charge.

And by the way, we know who you are and where you are. Have a nice day! :001:

[Alex MacLeod]

AM, you forgot the bit about how local authorities are getting some extra funding so they can keep council tax down and how we've done a deal with the Yanks whereby they send 20,000 troops to Iraq for a few months so we can announce a withdrawal from that country.

[Action Man]

Your'e right Alex, much better that more Yanks get killed rather than our boys.

[Alex MacLeod]

I but ours'll be back out there after the election if yon party wins.

[Action Man]

My apologies Alex, I thought you were taking the P, so I reciprocated.

Your point was well made and probably true, if not to Iraq then either Iran or Afghanistan.

However we have strayed of topic, and I have to say that i'm delighted to witness the furious back pedalling by our elected numptys on the subject of road pricing. The only road pricing I want to see is our elected numptys pricing the upgrade for the A96 and the A9 and saying "yes we will pay for that". Sod the central belt.