Pay Per Mile Road Usage

[whiteowl 54]

15 minutes ago, Bargepole23 said:

You're fuming because you were caught speeding 6 years ago?

 

Were you over the speed limit?

 

Back on topic, why not increase the tax on fuel rather another new system, pushing people to drive less, buy more efficient cars.

 

If there are legitimate exceptions, then they can be administered accordingly.

 

Get rid of VED and make savings there also by reducing admin and systems maintenance costs.

It's certainly great to be adult enough to accept that you made a mistake through carelessness, and that there will be consequences, such as a fine or an opportunity to see what the consequences of your actions on others might have been.

 

Or you can pretend you have been hard done by.

As I mentioned on page 1, the problem with increasing tax on fuel is that it actually generates less income. The government discovered that in about 2010 or so, hence fuel duty has not been increased for ages.

It's a principle called the Laffer curve - basically, you get to a point where the tax on a product makes it so expensive to buy that people buy less of it, thus actually generating less tax income.

 

It would also have a secondary effect of making everything in the shops more expensive as most things are shipped by lorry, causing inflationary pressure.

[geared 303]

It's a pity none of the pay per mile talk has ever included any kind of large investment in public transport.

 

It's simply a hole in the taxman's pocket that needs filling, not a fundamental problem we really should address at some point.

[ads36 214]

2 hours ago, Bargepole23 said:

Back on topic, why not increase the tax on fuel rather another new system, pushing people to drive less, buy more efficient cars.

because we're moving towards cars that don't use fuel.

 

(or at least, not in a way that lends itself readily to taxation)

[Bargepole23 337]

51 minutes ago, ads36 said:

because we're moving towards cars that don't use fuel.

 

(or at least, not in a way that lends itself readily to taxation)

Fair comment. I just don't believe that any new system involving a technological solution would be any more than another of method by which the government transfers public money into the private hands of whichever party doner implements the scheme for little return.

 

Exhibit A - Track and Trace app.

[geared 303]

19 hours ago, Bargepole23 said:

Fair comment. I just don't believe that any new system involving a technological solution would be any more than another of method by which the government transfers public money into the private hands of whichever party doner implements the scheme for little return.

 

Exhibit A - Track and Trace app.

You'll also end up with pushing issues onto local roads.

 

Almost always these schemes look to charge more for motorways and less for quieter roads.

All that will happen is people will spill off the motorways onto other roads to save paying the higher rates.  

[rudds1 102]

2 hours ago, geared said:

You'll also end up with pushing issues onto local roads.

 

Almost always these schemes look to charge more for motorways and less for quieter roads.

All that will happen is people will spill off the motorways onto other roads to save paying the higher rates.  

Look at m6 toll road.  Not many people use it compared to non toll motorway 

[Anna B 1,401]

On 18/11/2020 at 14:26, geared said:

It's a pity none of the pay per mile talk has ever included any kind of large investment in public transport.

 

It's simply a hole in the taxman's pocket that needs filling, not a fundamental problem we really should address at some point.

I agree.

We used to have an excellent public transport system in Sheffield.

Reliable, regular and cheap. 

What happened to that?

 

People need to travel these days, to work, to supermarkets etc. Society has been built round the car for the last 50 years. Living local like we used to do in the past is no longer an option. All this needs to be taken into account or large swathes of the population that cannot afford pay per mile are going to be at a great disadvantage.

[classicfan 15]

The regular cheap public transport system was abolished by Thatcher with deregulation legislation.

[El Cid 214]

On 18/11/2020 at 15:23, ads36 said:

because we're moving towards cars that don't use fuel.

 

(or at least, not in a way that lends itself readily to taxation)

Why is it not easy to tax electricity? We pay a 5% tax now.

I believe in everyone having a personal carbon allowance, we already have energy bills with both a standing daily charge and a ££ per unit.

We should be allowed a certain ammount of fuel at zero or a low tax rate, then once people have used their daily allowance the tax rate would increase to 40%/50%/60%

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/personal-carbon-allowances-budgets

[Anna B 1,401]

6 hours ago, classicfan said:

The regular cheap public transport system was abolished by Thatcher with deregulation legislation.

Didn't she say something about anyone over 30 needing to use public transport should be ashamed as it was a public admission of failure. Something like that anyway.

[Baron99 779]

7 hours ago, Anna B said:

Didn't she say something about anyone over 30 needing to use public transport should be ashamed as it was a public admission of failure. Something like that anyway.

It was supposedly attributed to Thatcher, as supposedly told to Hugo Vickers but there is no actual proof.   Its one of those urban myths, much like her often misquoted, "There is no such thing as society", speech. 

 

I'm sure I saw a similar quote decades before, attributed to an American industrialist. 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Baron99

[RollingJ 2,002]

Thanks, @Baron99- lots of 'supposedlies' in there.😀