Motorised road users subsidise just about everything that moves.Tax is paid on fuel and VAT on all consumablesInsurance in also taxed.Car tax, Road charges, parking permits, VAT on repairs.Total it up and it runs into a huge percentage of an average to low income.So those who do not have to use a car to make a living are not subsidising those who do.I would be far better off if I did not have to use a vehicle.But without the vehicle, I would not have any sort of income at all. Carrying work items of high value and prohibited from public transport carriage renders my and many others occupations unviable as well as unsocial hours which is being forced by the Mayors 24 hour London initiative.Without the car I would not pay any additional taxes in any form. That amounts to about £2,200 per annum.And without that tax, nothing else would get paid for either.So other ways to raise money will have to be found. Taxing Cyclists to use cycle way? Taxing people to use the bus? Taxing pedestrians to cross bridges.Problem is we have a warped system of smoke and mirrors distorting everything. Parking charges are an artificial creation of accounting. So is carbon unit charging. Pay to pollute but it solves nothing just shifts the problem and onus onto someone or somewhere else.Until this obsession with charging and taxing is removed, the real issues will never get solved, just increase the divide between those who can afford and those who cannot.
Raymond Havelock ● 2542d