Wednesday 10th October 2007

Money For Nothing

Chancellor's budget gets cautious response

---

Chancellor Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget report to the Commons had ideas for motorists, mainly the doubling of the transport budget.

The RAC Foundation welcomed the commitment but stressed that a greater proportion must be spent on roads as 93% of passenger journeys and the majority of freight are carried by road.

The total estimate to be spent on transport in 2007-8 is £20bn and this is forecast to increase to £23.7bn by 2010-11. However, the motorist is already paying double this amount in motoring taxes each year (£45bn in 2006).

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "We need to see a greater proportion spent on roads. The motorist will view the recent fuel duty increase and proposals for yet more increases over the next two years as money for nothing unless the road infrastructure is improved."

Alec Murray, chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF), said: "The Chancellor has missed an opportunity by failing to twin his Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) evasion clampdown, with a matching attack on car insurance dodging."

There are 27 million drivers on Britain's roads, and it is estimated that one in ten are currently uninsured.

He added: "The insurance premiums paid by law-abiding motorists are kept high in order to pay for the 2.7 million who shirk their responsibilities as road users. VED and car insurance evasion go hand in hand, so the Chancellor had an opportunity to allow motorists to have more money in their pocket at the end of the year, and reduce the misery that results from crashes involving uninsured vehicles."

Nigel Humphries, the Association of British Drivers' spokesman, said: "Transport and in particular our crumbling road network have for too long been treated as the 'Cinderella' of public services, yet a good road network is crucial to our economy and congestion affects almost everybody, directly or indirectly, every day of their lives."

[_James]

bring on the criticisms.....How are they lying this time? Which PH'er could easily implement a far better policy? How many rectal probes should darling receive for this outrageous report?

I eagerly await the answers....

[FartPants]

_James said:

bring on the criticisms.....How are they lying this time? Which PH'er could easily implement a far better policy? How many rectal probes should darling receive for this outrageous report?

I eagerly await the answers....

Somebody's tired.....

[rjes77]

by the look of Darling's face I'd say he had already been rectally probed.

[BDEng66]

rjes77 said:

by the look of Darling's face I'd say he had already been rectally probed.

No idea what James is on....but this is still not good enough, this countries entire infrastructure was constructed around road transport....

'we have no alternative'...

Therefore; Invest (in both road infrastructure AND driver education), treat us like adults and then reap the rewards.

Edited by BDEng66 on Wednesday 10th October 12:35

[Getsis]

Just tax all "foreign" cars entering the UK that will be here for more than 1 month, they would make a killing of the Polish alone

Edited by Getsis on Wednesday 10th October 13:15

[Ravell]

Lot of common sense in that article. But how much hope is there of any of it actually being implemented? How much value has a pre-budget report?

Sorry for being so cynical, but we've heard the promises all before and seen nothing of it. Don't really want to get my hopes up for some sensible politics.

Edited by Ravell on Wednesday 10th October 13:41

[mybrainhurts]

FartPants said:

_James said:

bring on the criticisms.....How are they lying this time? Which PH'er could easily implement a far better policy? How many rectal probes should darling receive for this outrageous report?

I eagerly await the answers....

Somebody's tired.....

Somebody's deluded....

[DPX]

"Just tax all "foreign" cars entering the UK that will be here for more than 1 month, they would make a killing of the Polish alone "


Like it , Austria / Swiss do it so why cant we ?. Simple vingette system fiver a day . Car crushed if found and not paid .

[Oilchange]

Funny, I was expecting him to nick all the Tories ideas for a budget.... Oops he already did that!

When the man comes out with something he thought up himself, I'll vote, erm, ELSEWHERE.

[Mclovin]

They should call cars tax machines.

[skymaster]

Even if they he does increase spending on the roads network it will probably all go towards installing totally useless driver infomation systems, traffic calming measures, more bus lanes, removing perfectly good roundabouts and putting poorly programmed lights in etc etc.

As my father told me when I was small.... Never trust a man whos eyebrows are a different colour to his hair.

[jas16]

what is wrong with this country...the motorists is being dealt with harshly. we are NOT the most polluting source, just look at the dirty buses and trucks, what happened to the rail network?

the problem is that people's wages are not going up at the same rate that the amount of taxes that we are having to pay are increasing. either that, or company's lay off more people so unemployment increases, how can that help a country?

personally, things have got really bad when the large numbers of asylum seekers entered the country as the local councils are paying, using our taxes, everything for them and not encouraging them to get a job. also i don't understand why the majority of the public, hard working and honest, have to pay for some lazy b*****d, who can't be bothered to work.

the cost of living is increasing, but the amount of money we are earning is not at the same rate. if the extra money raised was used to reduce council taxes, then maybe thats a result. the whole system needs a shakeup. such as the insurance premiums should be adjusted such that almost all young drivers are able to take out insurance so that the people who can pay for insurance don't feel hard done by.

[Ollieb7]

Hi New to this forum - but some topics just get under your skin like getting raped!
If they are going to charge us environmental tax - where's the plan for all the environmental issues - a nice wee bike path perhaps mr tax payer or a green bus - nope nothing - we all know these extra 2 pences per litre are highly likely going into the war coffers - how environmentally friendly is that!
I don't have a problem with paying certain taxes if it is being funded directly and fairly - in fact instead of giving all high emission cars the £400/yr bill next year why not have a sliding scale based on power to weight - got a heavy car / heavy polluting with out the proper use for all that power (fat 4x4!) then you pay more. What this will in turn do is encourage manufacturers to make lighter cars (hurra!) and give sport car makers half a chance - lets face it theres less sports cars on the road than 4x4's - and i for one (as a petrolhead!) would like to see a reversal of that!

Edited by Ollieb7 on Wednesday 10th October 16:09

[grumbledoak]

jas16 said:

the problem is that people's wages are not going up at the same rate that the amount of taxes that we are having to pay are increasing.

No, no, you've misunderstood!
Repeat: "Raising taxation is not inflationary!"


Yeah, right. If you are a deluded, fat, socialist, Scottish berk, maybe...

[flattotheboards]

There are 27 million drivers on Britain's roads, and it is estimated that one in ten are currently uninsured.

[_James]

grumbledoak said:

jas16 said:

the problem is that people's wages are not going up at the same rate that the amount of taxes that we are having to pay are increasing.

No, no, you've misunderstood!
Repeat: "Raising taxation is not inflationary!"


Yeah, right. If you are a deluded, fat, socialist, Scottish berk, maybe...

Or if you're an economist. Who would tell you it isn't. But then nothing can beat pub knowledge...

[grumbledoak]

_James said:

Or if you're an economist. Who would tell you it isn't. But then nothing can beat pub knowledge...

Yeah, like the last budget didn't give those who could, the impetus to seek a pay rise. Guess what? Many got one. As the resident economist, pray tell us what happens next...

[andmole]

_James said:

grumbledoak said:

jas16 said:

the problem is that people's wages are not going up at the same rate that the amount of taxes that we are having to pay are increasing.

No, no, you've misunderstood!
Repeat: "Raising taxation is not inflationary!"


Yeah, right. If you are a deluded, fat, socialist, Scottish berk, maybe...

Or if you're an economist. Who would tell you it isn't. But then nothing can beat pub knowledge...

So if VAT increased from 17.5% to 25%, that would have absolutely no effect on the RPI?
So if fuel duty goes up, hauliers costs don't go up, so they don't have to pass on those increased costs, and the goods in the shops would not be affected?

"Raising taxation is not inflationary!"

What a big steaming pile of absolute horse sh1t, the biggest pile of ing boocks I have had the misfortune to be subjected to since being told that....

Well I can't actually think of a bigger pile of sh1t, and boy have we been subjected to some since this bunch of incompetant lying bastard wrs came to power.

[_James]

In 2004, the 1.49p increase on fuel duty generated inflationary pressures of 0.06%. Massive I think you'll agree. In terms of VAT, if we take inflation to mean a one-period increase in the price level, you would be correct. But ultimately, a sustained rise in the price level, the economists definition of inflation, would not occur. Inflation in the long-run would remain unaffected.

[grumbledoak]

Pick one tiny fraction of the tax hikes we've had recently. Inflationary effect small, but present.

Next you'll be telling us that Gordo's selling of the national reserve 'made' the government money!