this fuel tax as afr as i am concerned is a tax on going to work, 90% of my mileage is used commuting, and I use approx £60 a week on petrol and before the left wing greenies chip in the alternative is quite simple, there is no public transport and the alternative is not to work and start claiming the dole find another job ??? nice idea but in the 7 years since I've been made redundant offers have been non existant, however there is more or less a continuous supply of contract work around paying better money - and all of this involves commutes not practical on public transport basically fuel tax is a tax on working for most people and for most businesses a direct tax on moving products around, either way its inflationary and inflation is what the government secretly wants to erode the real value of wages benefits and most importantly their debt
Lots of interesting points and question son this thread. How much tax is enough is a good one. I have no political affiliations and feel a good idea is a good thing regardless of who comes up with it . The current rates of tax are too much. I`m a firm believer in far less state intervention in most, but not all, walks of life. For most of my adult life most UK politicians seem to make the wrong choices, certainly while they are in power although some they sound quite sensible once retired. Some price rises are inevitable, it is just down to supply and demand but the ever increasing taxes are plain wrong. I agree that the government can see the benefit of inflation on many levels. Imagine the impact of 10% infaltion on the entire stock of products held by private companies in the UK. The government would rake in billions of additional tax on the profit to firms who have just sat back and seen the value of their stock go up. Something else to bear in mind with all the road tax bands. Lots of folk are now paying much less than they were a few years ago because they have switched to more energy efficient cars in newly created lower bands. Fuel duty has gone and helps cover this shortfall among other things.
Whatever system is used for raising government revenue is emotive, Fuel tax is a tax on going to work, Income tax is a tax on working, VAT is a tax on spending. Assuming we all want to live in a country with a free at the point of use Health Service, Education, Law enforcement, roads, social security system, national defence and all the rest that our taxes go on then the money needs to be raised. However you raise it someone's going to be pissed off, we have collectively decided on lower personal direct taxation and higher indirect taxation. Denmark (for example) have decided on higher personal taxation so pay around 55% income tax. If you want lower taxes then something has to be adjusted to compensate for it, either you spend less as a government or you raise the money elsewhere.
Hmmm well if you happen to have a Diesel motor and you just happened to have some 35sec heating oil on hand you could be saving a considerable amount of cash, just do not try it with 28sec heating oil or you will definitely not be saving or going very far without a very bad noise coming from your engine
But surely that's the point,isn't it? I don't know anyone who begrudges paying taxes for things they need,but no-one wants to pay taxes for things they either don't need,or didn't vote for.Or that don't function properly.
Well now you do........As I will do anything I possibly can to limit my liability to any and every Tax levied upon me, and I absolutely begrudge every penny that I am parted with in the name of tax
People who don't have children may not want money spent on education, people who never travel by rail may not want to subsidise railways, pacifists may not want to spend anything on defence - all this is understandable but rather unedifying. And pure unalloyed selfishness is not admirable, dignified or even reasonable. A more balanced approach is to step back and look at the needs society as a whole, in all its parts. There are wider considerations at stake than your own personal ones.
May we assume that you are also totally ungrateful for all the services you and others benefit from, such as Health Service, Education, Law enforcement, roads, social security system, national defence and all the rest that are paid for by other peoples' taxes, Kato? If so, you have placed yourself in a well-known but unpopular category - I surely need not name it.
My opinion is that you are correct and it is best to take a global look and accept that I will be paying for some services I dont currently or may never use. The problem is to set the right level of taxation and state control. My opinion is that both are way too high and that the current levels are not good for society as a whole.
Where do I start Pete, Health service - more like an excuse for a money pit it does not work and is a waste of time, I and everybody else should be given the option to opt out of the system and go entirely private Education - I pay a lot of money for my kids education so no I do not want to pay into the state system pot as I have no need of it. Law Enforcement - Have only ever called them once to report some twat had nicked my car, did they come to see me no, did they find the car no, have I ever seen the car again no, do I want to contribute to them doing nothing NO Roads - what is road tax for, why should I pay any extra Social Security - So now you want me to pay for everybody that can be bothered to put their hand out, misfits, miscreants and all manor of other malingerers, + all those that think popping out sprogs and getting benefits is actually a job National Defense - Again a bit of a joke all they ever do is swan about the globe getting involved in battles that have nothing to do with the UK and should be left well alone, and you are correct I don't want to pay for that either. Sorry Pete if all that offends you but that is how I feel, I'm increasingly asked to fork out more and more and I get absolutely nothing in return.
One of the biggest drains on the exchequer is pensions for government employees and this is set to increase, if you work (or don't work) you will get some sort of pension whether it contributory or non-contributory this has to be paid for by the likes of you and me, private pensions do not get the same benefit and have to be funded by the employee and the employer not the tax payer.
I'm not going to argue about the benefits system or NHS as maybe , just maybe we will all need to use one of those services . Why I can't see the sense of so much duty is fairly simple . I used to go out on my bike of a weekend and use say 10 litres of fuel which cost at the time £7.50 . Not particularly cheap at that price but I'd still stop somewhere to buy a drink and eat a bacon roll . Then petrol became £1 a litre and I stopped buying the bacon roll but still bought a drink . When Satan's juice became £1.25 I stopped buying the drink as well . Now at almost £1.40 a litre I'll be saving riding for days when it's really nice and when I get withdrawal symptoms . I'll still be spending something like £15 but all that will now go into just petrol . The people I used to buy the drink and bacon roll sold up when the takings started to go down and the Eastern Europeans were employed to run the same place . Two of them at first then just one and now they've shut up shop as well . All the places relying on a bit of tourism and people spending a bit of spare money are really struggling or laying off workers , it costs too much to just get anywhere so everyone stays at home . Sure the Government takes more taxes in but then it spends even more to the newly unemployed .
To get even close to the level of cover the NHS affords you would be prohibitively expensive, The NHS does work, it provides one of the finest healthcare systems in the world at a fraction of the cost per head that (for example) the US pays Except of course you need the people you employ to be educated, the people that service your car, sell you your food and sweep your streets to be able to read, write and count. Except of course if they were actually not doing anything there's not much to stop the entire system descending into anarchy and vigilantism, the deterrence factor of having an independant generally honest and apolitical police force is unquestionable. There's no such thing as Road tax, there's vehicle excise duty and it all goes into the greater exchequer pot. No, you are expected to contribute to a national safety net for those out of work and to contribute to the pensions of those who were working to pay for your education and health etc when you were younger. The Armed Forces don't choose which wars to join in with, the Government that we all elect choose for them. If you really feel that strongly about it stand for parliament, if enough people agree with you you'll be Prime Minister and can put the country to rights. Apart from a stable country, low levels of crime, a well educated population, free health cover, the roads and of course the Aqueduct.
I'm sure Everyone is selfish in some way or another,but as stated I don't know anyone personally who begrudges spending on things they need. As it happens I'm happy to pay tax to pay for the things you mention,(and a lot more besides),not just because I benefit from them,but because they are generally,"a good thing" .Never said otherwise... Doesn't mean to say that I or anyone else is happy to keep shelling out for everything that our taxes get spent on.
It doesn't offend me, although it is rather amusing. Have you never seen the Monty Python film Life of Brian - the "What have the Romans ever done for us?" scene. Now we know why paying taxes has to be obligatory, not optional.
Very good point. Each area of government expenditure is a battleground between reasons for increasing it and arguments for cutting it. Sometimes one prevails, sometimes the other. That is the essence of politics. And this is a statement of the bleeding obvious.
IMO acceptable would be 20%, 25% at a push. But when the rate is above 50% or, in the case of fuel over 100%, then it is wrong and totally unacceptable. There is no justification whatsoever for the level of tax on fuel.
