Budget

[JohnW]

Canada for me too, although they have some very restrictive rules about cars. Trying to 'import' parts into Canada even from USA is a pain apparently.
Canada is the only place we have seriously considered going to live. Even looked at house prices, work, paperwork involved. West side obviously - the english side

Maybe France is an option too - Alps - lovely roads in the summer, great skiing in the winter, just full of tourists and foreigners
Just a shame France restrict their bikes to 100bhp max

[derdle]

Yep, Road Tax, Vehicle Excise Duty, Road Fund Licence call it what you will - daylight robbery!
If you look at the table in the opening post, you'll see that for 346g/km you car falls into band F because it was registered before 23/03/06. (there is a higher band (G) for cars registered after 23/03/06 and CO2 higehr than 226g but yours doesn't fit that one.
So for 2007/08 (this tax year) and 2008/09 (from 06/04/08) you are in Band F =£ 210.

Move alonf the columns in the table for 2009/10 and 2010/11 and you'll find that 346g/km falls into the "over 255g" bracket...£ 440 and £455 respectively. So your road tax will rise by 121% over the next 3 years.

[GardinerG]

So your road tax will rise by 121% over the next 3 years.

What a bargain.... and for that hike what benefits are we seeing exactly? Exactly nothing, except even more bumpy uneven and dangerous roads of course, with more traffic lights and buss lanes which in turn cause more traffic. But I suppose they need someone to pay for all these green mps and do-gooders that tell the other mps how to make us pay more for using less. I wonder if they go to sleep at night thinking "I'm helping to make the world a better place"?

Is there any chance of electing someone with a shred of common sense in the next few eons?
P.s. Sorry for the smiley spamming.

[bobbler]

Canada? New Zealand?

I will be buggered if I am giving up my country because I am being shafted by the people put in power BY US TO SERVE US. Its round about time that they got kicked in their sacks IMO.

[derdle]

Its round about time that they got kicked in their sacks IMO.

But come the next election, anyone with a car with greater than 100g/km CO2 will not be allowed to vote.

[JohnW]

lmao, sack kicking. Now that I like the sound of, as long as I'm giving and not receiving

This is why we've not gone already. Love the country and don't want to give it up.

What it needs is someone to form a party that has an ounce of sense, but also has people that can be believed in, and finally are prepared to actually change the system, not just go along with it.
Most of these current crop have their hands tied by other faceless beurocrats who make the decisions or do the work. Going into the EU only made this worse, as we now have a UK and a EU set of meeting attendees. Until we can unload all the baggage things won't change.

If the country was run as a company it would have died long ago.
It seems like the government is a job creation scheme as I said before. I wonder just what the percentage of the population who actually work for the government in one way or another is.

The whole thing these days seems to be to try and micro manage what the citizens do by way of taxes or laws, often unenforceable.
Unfortunately the do gooders seem to get listened to such that the rights of the minorities are put above those of the majority. In order to pay for all of this those that pay tax get clobbered.

I'd like to see the current lot out on their ear at the earliest opportunity, but trouble is the others are no better. There is no hard left or right any more, just different flavours of mellow middle.
And none of these see the need to streamline and reduce the tax burden...

[bobbler]

I would be happy to see ANYONE in government who was not a namby pamby private educated toss piece or has actually done a days graft. I dont care what party they represent, its if they have a grasp of the world outside their window is more important to me

[s4woody]

oh i feel really sick now..i own 7 cabs and almost everyone is in the 243 g/km bracket..i need to go and lye down...

[Philws4]

Im thinking .... " which country will I move to when I give up completely on this one"....
I hear Canada is nice... Grass looking significantly greener over most fences all the time....

Got to be NZ for me,we spent a month out there last year and am still wondering why we came back!!
Plus they drive on the LHS and speak english and are very polite and you can get an RS4 out there.... need i go on

[JohnW]

Woody, do you rent those cabs out ?
Reason I ask is that a good friend of mine is a London cabbie and rents it, so if you do he could be renting one of yours

[PetrolDave]

Check out these sections too re road pricing on page 50 of the Budget Report:

3.42 Costs of congestion are forecast to more than double by 2025. Budget 2008 reaffirms the commitment to exploring national road pricing to tackle congestion and emissions. It announces an invitation to the private sector to run a number of projects based on charging by time of day, distance travelled and route chosen. The Government will make available sufficient funding to ensure that these projects help answer the crucial questions on feasibility, cost effectiveness, privacy and the impact of real financial incentives on driver behaviour. Budget 2008 also confirms additional funding to help local authorities develop proposals for charging schemes, which will be taken forward consistent with consideration of
a national scheme.

3.43 For motorways, the Government will set out the scope for introducing hard shoulder running by Pre-Budget Report 2008, and for locking in the benefits of extra capacity, such as lanes reserved for car-sharers or those willing to pay a toll.

Looks like road pricing (local and national) and toll/car-share lanes on motorways are DEFINITELY still on the agenda.

[graemep]

I know it may seem too much like common sense to this current government, but I can't help thinking that charging road tax on a nominal fee (basically to make sure the car is legal), and a contribution based on the previous years mileage on you current or previous vehicle.

As the vehicle milage can be assessed at the time of MOT, this would result in a more appropriate charge for a vehicles emissions and limit any need for an expensive roadpricing solution.

[derdle]

As the vehicle milage can be assessed at the time of MOT, this would result in a more appropriate charge for a vehicles emissions and limit any need for an expensive roadpricing solution.

What's the point of introducing a scheme that people can avoid? You can clock cars, some cars never get MoT'd - like new ones or scumbags with older illegal cars. The sensible option is to increase fuel duty - the more fuel you use, the more you pay. It's a very simple method.

[BRETTCOLLINS]

I think that they should put all the tax on fuel. And do away will road tax all together.. then if you use the car alot of you have a car that uses lots of fuel, you pay. if you don't use the car, you don't...

But that would be to easy...

[derdle]

..far too easy, and then prevent the old bill/DVLA issuing fines for not having road tax . Failure to display a valid tax disc.. could face an automatic penalty of £80 as well as a minimum fine of £1000. Your vehicle could be clamped, impounded or even crushed.

The more laws there are, the more fines they can issue.