The "I pay tax and insurance" situation

[User269]

And, most of us pay road tax - I have a car on the friggin drive.......

As I posted earlier, roads are paid for out of our council tax. There's no such thing as road tax. There's VED, or if you want, call it car tax, but it's not what pays for the roads.
Just as important though, is the fact the roads are for all of us to use, on feet, hooves, wheels or whatever.

 

[Davidc]

"I'd love to pay road tax but Winston Churchill abolished it in 1937". guaranteed to irritate - if it gets a response the follow up is "You pay excise duty, you can pay none by having an efficient car which doesn't cause as much appalling polution as this one".

Only works with the semi or above intelligent and you need to be prepared to duck.

 

[martint235]

That's an interesting website - and worth sharing. But there is something not quite right about the jerseys, which seem to be spreading the myths about car drivers, cyclists and road tax. They should be countering stupid arguments - saying "nobody pays road tax, it's called VED and based on emissions and roads are paid for by income tax!" Now that's a lot of wording to squeeze onto a jersey, I'll grant you so something a tad snappier would be better. Can't think of anything better off hand.

There is mention on the top about the tax being abolished and also on one of the discs it mentions BED (I'm sure but the top is downstairs and I can't be bothered to check!)

 

[aberal]

There is mention on the top about the tax being abolished and also on one of the discs it mentions BED (I'm sure but the top is downstairs and I can't be bothered to check!)

That's the point I think - it's not obvious. For these things to work they have to be in your face. At first glance it looks as though the cyclist is sticking a single digit up to the car driver.

 

[martint235]

That's the point I think - it's not obvious. For these things to work they have to be in your face. At first glance it looks as though the cyclist is sticking a single digit up to the car driver.

SWMBO doesn't like me wearing it for that reason. She thinks it is overly antagonistic but I did used to hear that argument so often and since getting the top, the number of times I do get it has fallen significantly.

Now I'm just worried about the abuse I'll start to get from Sept 2012 when the expiry date passes!!!

 

[XmisterIS]

I tell you one thing that riles me right up is that there are some people (and I personally know a couple of them) for whom the message just *won't* sink in that there is no such thing as road tax, it's VED and bicycle owners pay no VED because cycling is zero-emission, just like some car owners pay no VED because their car is low-emission.

On one occasion, I nearly threw my coffee at someone to whom I carefully and thoroughly explained all about VED and why we don't pay it. Why did I nearly throw my coffee at her? Because after I'd finished explaining, she said, "Yeah, but cyclists shouldn't be on the road because they don't pay road tax, innit".

It's like some people just don't wan't to hear anything other than what they think is correct. You could tell them ten times a day, every day for a year that there is no such thing as road tax, and at the end of the year they'd still say we don't belong on the roads because we don't pay road tax. It pisses me off something rotten.

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

On one occasion, I nearly threw my coffee at someone to whom I carefully and thoroughly explained all about VED and why we don't pay it. Why did I nearly throw my coffee at her? Because after I'd finished explaining, she said, "Yeah, but cyclists shouldn't be on the road because they don't pay road tax, innit".

I don't bother explaining about VED now. I just tell them that I pay the same as someone who drives a Toyota Prius and leave it at that.

 

[benb]

I wonder what she would have said if you said, "Would you have pulled out in front of a steam roller like that because they also don't pay 'road' tax and by your logic you have right of way".

Haha, that's a good one, I'll remember that. Could also use a tractor as an example.

BTW, does anyone else think it's odd that we still call them steam rollers?
My MIL calls the vacuum cleaner a "carpet sweeper". Makes me laugh every time.

 

[chris grace]

I have no problem explaining to drivers why pulling out in front of me is a bad idea,I'm over 6 foot tall 19 stone and none of it fat.When I tap on their window and threaten to turn their car over for trying to kill me they get the message.
If it makes them think and look carefully at the next junction and saves a life then I'm happy.

 

[Matthew_T]

Haha, that's a good one, I'll remember that. Could also use a tractor as an example.

BTW, does anyone else think it's odd that we still call them steam rollers?
My MIL calls the vacuum cleaner a "carpet sweeper". Makes me laugh every time.

Well we do have "Road sweepers".

 

[al78]

I tell you one thing that riles me right up is that there are some people (and I personally know a couple of them) for whom the message just *won't* sink in that there is no such thing as road tax, it's VED and bicycle owners pay no VED because cycling is zero-emission, just like some car owners pay no VED because their car is low-emission.

On one occasion, I nearly threw my coffee at someone to whom I carefully and thoroughly explained all about VED and why we don't pay it. Why did I nearly throw my coffee at her? Because after I'd finished explaining, she said, "Yeah, but cyclists shouldn't be on the road because they don't pay road tax, innit".

It's like some people just don't wan't to hear anything other than what they think is correct. You could tell them ten times a day, every day for a year that there is no such thing as road tax, and at the end of the year they'd still say we don't belong on the roads because we don't pay road tax. It pisses me off something rotten.

This goes some way to explaining it.

 

[malkie]

We will never hear the end of this whilst the DVLA persist in referring to VED as "tax" and "tax discs" all over their reminders and website.

That is after all where motorists see it most.

 

[Dan B]

We will never hear the end of this whilst the DVLA persist in referring to VED as "tax" and "tax discs" all over their reminders and website.

That is after all where motorists see it most.

Provided they continue to call it "car tax" and not "road tax" I can't really see the problem there. It's a tax on cars, you only pay it if you're in a car, sorted.

Driver: "You don't pay road tax"
Cyclist: "Nor do you, you pay car tax. Does this look like a car?"
D: "I pay to use the roads, you don't "
... at this point you can choose
C1: "I pay council tax, income tax, VAT and a pile of other taxes, all of which are spent on roads"
C2: "Nor would you if you didn't have to, so that actually makes you dumber than me not better than me"
C3: "I bet you pay for sex too, I don't"

or other rejoinder of your choice. If they get onto "roads are for cars", the reply "no, streets are for people" is often apposite, at least in builtup areas.

 

[gaz]

Is that the actual reason?

No, but if we where to pay 'road tax' it would be 0 because of that.

 

[fimm]

A friend who is a civil engineer (and a cyclist) told me that the damage to the roads is something like the 4th power of the axle weight. (I think). I.e. if you taxed a cyclist 1p a year for the damage they did to the road, the tax on a car, based on weight, would be £1000... Unfortunately I can't remember the exact numbers he gave, but it was something like that.

There's an interesting article on the history of Britain's roads here:
http://www.cyclingscotland.org/news/19th-century-cyclists-paved-the-way-for-modern-motorists-roads/