US realises what a tax hungry country we actually are...

[racefan_uk]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-10-13-british-tax_x.htm


Finally, our 'Good Friends' in the US are starting to realise what we've known for years!

[jimbeaux]

I think that fee is excessive; however, if it's your rule, our guys should pay it. It would appear that your business leaders agree with the US Embassy, saying that the fee kills London business.

[scared but happy]

web site said:

The forum plans to stage a mock funeral for London businesses down Kings Road, Chelsea's main shopping street, this month.

How much airtime or paper space do you recon the media will give this. I guess about 1%.

[planetdave]

link said:

"He adds that the charge is not a tax because it's optional. "If you don't drive into the zone, you don't have to pay. The whole point of the congestion charge is to encourage people to use public transport."

And if you dont earn anything you don't pay income tax



If I drive on a private road and pay a toll that's not a tax..that's a charge. You have bought a service.

But London is not private and that makes it a tax. It's not called a public road for nothing.

[turbobloke]

planetdave said:

link said: "He adds that the charge is not a tax because it's optional. "If you don't drive into the zone, you don't have to pay. The whole point of the congestion charge is to encourage people to use public transport." And if you dont earn anything you don't pay income tax

And if your business turnover is below the threshold you can choose whether to register for VAT or not, so that's not a tax either then

[john_p]

No taxation without representation, right

Sounds fair enough to me

Hopefully George Bush and the US 7th Army will occupy the GLA building soon*


*not a terrorist threat

[tinman0]

planetdave said:

If I drive on a private road and pay a toll that's not a tax..that's a charge. You have bought a service.

The city of london is not a private road. its a public road paid for many times over by the motorist in petrol taxes.

[minicity]

tinman0 said:

planetdave said: If I drive on a private road and pay a toll that's not a tax..that's a charge. You have bought a service. The city of london is not a private road. its a public road paid for many times over by the motorist in petrol taxes.

No - it's paid for from general taxation.

[james_j]

If the Yanks want a laugh, they need only keep watching us to see how are taxes are going to have to rise even further to pay for Brown's public sector job-creation scheme (and other follys).

[Witchfinder]

link said:

"The whole point of the congestion charge is to encourage people to use public transport."

No, it's to bully people into not using their cars. If you want to encourage behaviour you reward, you don't punish.

[pdV6]

Witchfinder said:

link said: "The whole point of the congestion charge is to encourage people to use public transport." No, it's to bully people into not using their cars. If you want to encourage behaviour you reward, you don't punish.

Which is a basic fact that all UK government, whether central or local, have never grasped.

[cotty]

"The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, adopted in 1963, exempts diplomats from paying national, regional and local taxes. "

Must make filling up fun.

[tinman0]

minicity said:

tinman0 said: planetdave said: If I drive on a private road and pay a toll that's not a tax..that's a charge. You have bought a service. The city of london is not a private road. its a public road paid for many times over by the motorist in petrol taxes. No - it's paid for from general taxation.

No, its paid from petrol tax and car tax.

I went over this many months ago in a long reply giving precise details of the history of when road taxes were introduced, why they were introduced, what they pay for and what bodies are responsible for what.

[hugoagogo]

cotty said:

"The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, adopted in 1963, exempts diplomats from paying national, regional and local taxes. " Must make filling up fun.

probably use vouchers and get duty-free fuel, bit like british forces in germany

anyway, aren't residents of the congestion charge zone exempt? so if the cars are registered to the embassy, they should be exempt?

[fulham911club]

Are you missing the point here? Whether the congestion charge is right or wrong (I think wrong) is not the issue. The issue is that a bunch of diplomats are saying "we're not paying it cos we're exempt".

Another example of the arrogance of the US of A again to me. First they cordone off the entire square now refusal to pay a toll that all other London road users need to pay. Are they going to refuse to pay the M6 toll fee as well?

[racefan_uk]

fulham911club said:

Are they going to refuse to pay the M6 toll fee as well?

And why the hell would an American diplomat want to leave the 'safe haven' of London to travel up there to use that for?

You're probably right though, they are complaining about a tax that everyone else has to pay.

However, everyone else doesn't want to pay it, especially as has already been stated, it's on a public road, not a private one.

This country is starting to skate dangerously close to the thin ice of pissing off ALL of its inhabitants.

[fulham911club]

racefan_uk said:

fulham911club said: Are they going to refuse to pay the M6 toll fee as well? And why the hell would an American diplomat want to leave the 'safe haven' of London to travel up there to use that for? You're probably right though, they are complaining about a tax that everyone else has to pay. However, everyone else doesn't want to pay it, especially as has already been stated, it's on a public road, not a private one. This country is starting to skate dangerously close to the thin ice of pissing off ALL of its inhabitants.

I agree but the topic of whether a toll in London is correct is different to a bunch of Yanks saying "we aint gonna pay cos we're guardians of the world and this makes us exempt"

[racefan_uk]

No, it just measn they think the same as we do, that they shouldn't have to pay it in the first place, but they're based on the far side of the Atlantic. We're stuck here having to put up with it.

[turbobloke]

Good luck to the yanks. Any adverse publicity for the pinko-green mob who want motorists to pay for something we've already paid for, due to problems they caused, is well deserved. Londoners who think it's a good idea deserve it. Still haven't met a black cabbie who's carried anyone - apart from red ken himself - who thought it was a good idea, or who voted for ken.

[cotty]

hugoagogo said:

anyway, aren't residents of the congestion charge zone exempt? so if the cars are registered to the embassy, they should be exempt?

I thought so but appears not the case
www.cclondon.com/downloads/ResidentsLiving.pdf