BS: Travel Tax Petition

Subject: BS: Don't let them track your car for tax!
From: BanjoRay
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 07:49 AM

There's a petition to prevent the government from bringing in the new travel tax system involving your vehicle being tracked and taxed for distance covered. If you don't want them to know where your car is at any given time then sign it, alongside the 938,062 others who already have. The petition must be completed by 20 Feb! The government can't possibly ignore this one, can they?
Ray
Travel Tax Petition

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: BanjoRay
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 07:50 AM

Sorry Americans, this one's British.
Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 08:14 AM

Odd how people queue up to buy mobile phones which tell all and sundry exactly where they are, and yet this issue generates such hysteria!
And, with the proliferation of plate recognition cameras in the UK's major towns, there's little enough 'privacy' as it is.

I imagine that this petition will be just as successful as every other e-petition.

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Folkiedave
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 08:22 AM

The number of signatures is irrelevant.

The car tax - provided money raised is invested in public transport is a good idea.

No chance of me signing it.

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 08:56 AM

Indeed, Dave. The idea of paying for the amount of use of a vehicle seems to me to be hugely sensible. What's more, the Daily Mail and the Express probably hate the idea - so bring it on!
Still, this petition will probably have as much effect as the 2809 other petitions hosted on the No10 site.

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Bagpuss
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 09:00 AM

I am still waiting for the prime minister to stand on his head and juggle ice cream...

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 09:27 AM

This car tax would penalise a lot of people who are just trying to do a job of work each day or carry on normally with their lives. I don't have a problem with the present system of road tax but this proposal will add a terrible burden to "ordinary" people who are probably overstretched as it is with rising interest rates etc. I have signed it. A good job that gas prices may finally come down - we're going to need every penny if this new car tax happens!

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Scrump
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 09:33 AM

As was pointed out in another thread, the proposed mileage tax will cause a problem for musicians attending gigs and festivals. How would you get a band's gear and instruments on a bus or train? With great difficulty is the answer.

I'm opposed to the tax and will remain so until we have a decent public transport system across the whole country (not just in cities).

Anyway, they could achieve the same thing much more easily and without any costs, by simply whacking up the price of petrol (gas). The people who drive more would pay more, and gas-guzzlers would pay more still.

I don't believe the mileage tax is motivated by the environmental factor at all - it's more to do with this government wanting to know where each of us is at all times. Orwell was right, unfortunately.

:-(

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 10:44 AM

Looking at the thinking behind it, the intention is not to change the revenue model (petrol prices would not be slashed although duty and road tax would be reduced) but primarily to reduce congestion.
As most musical events occur outside peak hours, I don't imagine it will impinge on the average enthusiast greatly.
There is some information on the scheme here.
The scheme as envisaged tracks the car - not you. Unless you are under direct observation no-one knows who's driving the car. (Your movements are monitored by the rdf tag secretly implanted on you last time you visited the dentist!). If you honestly think that there is a civil servant given over to watching you, you have an over inflated sense of self importance. Got a mobile phone in your pocket? "Big Brother" knows where you are every minute it's switched on.
As for the efficacy of such a petition, there are more than 2000 of them on the site, ranging from the sensible to the totally barking and the national to the very, very parochial. They are hosted on the No10 site, but they are organised by an outside organisation called mySociety. As such they have no 'official' standing.

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Bernard
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 02:24 PM

Erm... "provided money raised is invested in public transport"


'Scuse me whilst I go and clear the snow off the runway... the pigs are waiting to use it!!

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Folkiedave
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 02:33 PM

I think pressure on the government to put the money into public transport is more likely to succeed than this petition.

(Both unlikely I agree)

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 07:20 PM

We're going to have to live without relying on cars all the time,, if we're going to live at all. Our ancestors managed without them. We'll manage alright, in time.

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Mr Happy
Date: 09 Feb 07 - 08:29 PM

The government can't possibly ignore this one, can they?

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 09:22 AM

Food for thought in The Times here.

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 10:18 AM

Mudelves, can we have at least blue headers linking the three threads on this topic, so I don't have to waste ink putting the same thing on all three?

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Rasener
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 12:07 PM

More than a million people have signed the petition.

Subject: RE: BS: Travel Tax Petition
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Feb 07 - 12:48 PM

Guru's Festival thread on this topic