anyone fancy piling in?

[LLB]

Both barrells

You stated in the past that you took your driving test, but don't own a car Spinners!

 

[ChipSeal]

I thought the "jock" comment was aimed at me then I realised it was for your benefit. Then it occured to me, how the hell would he know I was Scottish!!

We can all tell your Scottish by your accent of course! Sheesh!

 

[snorri]

I don't know your situation, but over here, road taxes (lisense, fuel, etc) don't BEGIN

It's the same here.

 

[spindrift]

It's the same here.

Cyclists subsidise car drivers. Private motoring enjoys huge levys of public money, that's why the cost is kept unnaturally low.

 

[LLB]

We get that same, "You don't pay taxes" argument over here, too. I don't know your situation, but over here, road taxes (lisense, fuel, etc) don't BEGIN to pay for the roads. Road building and maintenance is supplemented from all other taxes, such as sales tax, income tax, etc. Considering the little damage that a bicycle does to a road (compared to heavier vehicles) and the little road space actually required for the bicycle, I make the argument that cyclists pay disproportionately HIGHER taxes than motor vehicles.

Joe

To add some balance to this argument, car drivers in the states do have much lower taxes than in the UK. I'm not at all surprised that a good proportion of road maintenance funding comes from income and sales tax in the US.

The VED rules in the UK are totally upside down, and are designed to hit the bulk of the vehicles on the roads.

 

[frog]

Ah, the old, old 'you don't pay road tax' comment. Here's a random thought on that one (some figures quoted are open to question, but you get the idea):

1. There are approximately 33 million licensed vehicles in UK (source Office of National Statistics). Also 43% of people aged over 5 own a bicycle (source Department of Transport). (Roughly) that's around 20 million bicycles.

2. Vehicle Excise Duty for zero emission vehicles is currently £0. So a bicycle will cost £0.

3. Guestimating, it costs around £10 in admin/overhead costs for the DfT to issue a disk, even one that's not being charged for (that's even with modern computer systems). That's got to be paid for from somewhere. So the costs for issuing the disks for bicycles will have to be recouped by increasing the cost to other licensed vehicles. That'll put the cost up by about £6 each.

So, Mr Car Driver (which includes me) - if you want me to 'pay road tax' on my bicycle - it's going to cost you £6 a year for each of your vehicles to pay for it.

Do you still want me to have one? No, thought not.

Brilliant!!!

Now, how the hell to I get that on a t-shirt

 

[gambatte]

Sorry - fed the troll again

 

[tdr1nka]

Sorry - fed the troll again

The best we can hope for that troll is a nice quiet anurism in his sleep.

Tx

 

[HJ]

The VED rules in the UK are totally upside down, and are designed to hit the bulk of the vehicles on the roads.

The VED rules are slowly coming round to taxing the more damaging vehicles on the roads, but they are still the most heavily subsidised form of transport in the country, so they are not being hit hard enough yet...

 

[GrahamG]

I'd like to see VED and fuel tax abolished completely. The only fair way forward (currently politically untenable) is charge according to level and time of usage - pay as you go.
You pay more for electricity, phone calls, trains, buses, planes, red roses, santa hats and even sun-beds during peaks in demand - the roads are a commodity in high demand so why should they be any different? The cost of vehicles using a city centre road at 8.30am should reflect demand given the detrimental effect of current extreme levels of use. Flat rates for using our very expensive road infrastructure are wholly inequitable and do not encourage sensible use of cars (there's no need to ban them or 'tax us off the roads' - just more sensible, practical or rather more accurately, sparing use of them). Then little old lady in the middle of nowhere isn't forced into subsidising the city drivers when she drives to the nearest post office 30 miles away (the local one closed) at 11am on a Tuesday through quiet country lanes.