Need another petition - Road Tax

[crofts]

The sneaky dropping of the 10p income tax has rightfully created a furore, surpassing objections to all the other back door taxes Brown introduced as chancellor.
Equally sneaky is the retrospective (back to cars registered after 2001) raising of car tax based on CO2 emissions.
Like many other members I bought a car 4 1/2 years ago with a reasonable, economical, 2 litre diesel engine. Little emphasis was put on CO2 levels at that time and possible penalties.
Though CO2 is not measured at MOT time, twice the mechanic has mentioned that he has not had another car on the machine with such low emissions (probably emissions that may be responsible for cancer in genetically susceptible people.... CO2 doesn't cause cancer and cost to the NHS !)
While I agree with a policy that states if you buy a car from now on these are the rates of road tax that will apply I consider it abhorant that increased car tax, introduced retrospectively, is as objectionable as the 10p income tax band that was dropped and hopefully will result in Brown being kicked into the long grass.
He can hardly claim the 'In Real Terms' rubbish applies.

[Willienelson]

I have to say that I find this governments whole attitude abhorent, it doesn't matter whether its the war in Iraq, road tax or fuel protests, they WILL NOT listen to the people.
There is global warming but humans aren't the cause, and that has been proved and ignored time and again.
Seems to me they've forgotten who employes them!

[BigJacko]

There IS already a petition, crofts - however it's not nearly as well subscribed as it needs to be, to get the government to listen, alas. It's at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/UNFAIR-VED/ and is now up to about 7,200 signatures (it's grown a couple of thousand since last week, I think).

I was heartened to see a story on Sky News about the implications of this tax, midweek last week and run throughout the day, and it was also front-page news on the Times - but I've not seen much coverage at all from the Beeb (at least, not 'in-your-face' coverage... I haven't gone hunting to find any specifically).

I live in hope that after the drubbing the government got at the local elections last week, they might possibly think twice about DOUBLING the vehicle tax for so many FAMILY cars as they're planning - but given that the whole tomfoolery about CO2 emissions is frankly a load of baloney anyway, perhaps they won't.

Ask yourself this... if you were to RUN one kilometre, overweight and out-of-condition comfort-junky that you are (and we all know we are, don't we, or we wouldn't be driving plush Rovers), would you personally emit more than 225 grammes of CO2? I know I would! And probably a lot more besides!

Given that, surely we are being MORE environmentally-conscious by driving Rovers, than running or walking everywhere, no?

[Willienelson]

A guy in London did a test a few weeks ago, walking to work for a month, cycling for a month and then driving the next month in a diesel Focus, an average family car.

Due to all the extra showers he was taking, plus the extra food he ate for energy and the replacement clothes he bought after wearing them out quicker, the car beat the cyclist marginally on Co2, and beat the runner by a huge margin on Co2.
(He did try the train and bus but hardly ever got to work on time so gave up after a week!!)

One more point, If I was to go out and buy a new eco-friendly car to replace my 1.8T, the actual Co2 that would be created just to make the car would offset the benefits for approximately 2 years. Add that to the fact that my 1.8T would still be running but with another owner, it has to be said that it must be better to keep her and run her for a longer time period.

Now, my soapbox is going away again for another few hours!!