Comments on: Car tax: A sandal-wearing lefty gets irate

By: Neil

Neil — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:43:53 +0000

Out of touch politicians are using the myth of Global warming as a cover for huge tax increases. Let’s face it, if they were serious about carbon footprints there would be a solar panel on each new house and there would be a tax on new born babies, since they will all have a footprint of their own.
It’s all just a swindle. Clean air yes but you don’t need to use the public, usually the poorest, to pay for other government expenditure. Wake up & wise up.

By: Rev Stan

Rev Stan — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:03:16 +0000

A good point well made but can I ask one thing? Is your plastic bag recycling to off-set the fact that you chose to buy one of the biggest and thus less economical engines in the range?

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:28:57 +0000

By the way, where’s this new cars-more-polluting-than-old-cars come from?

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:28:06 +0000

This retrospective tax is possibly the worst idea I’ve ever heard of. How it qualifies as a green tax I’m not sure, as the very idea of a green tax is surely one that dissuades people from following a certain course of action: buying a new and polluting car for example.

The real issue here is that it will have the effect of convincing people that all green taxes are simply a swindle. That’s what’s annoying - there’s a logical and moral case for increasing road tax on new vehicles, and (debatably) maintaining above-inflation increases in fuel duty. There’s no such case for retrospective VED.

If Brown doesn’t drop it he’ll be finished. In itself it’s a stupid tax, along with everything else it’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. If he does drop it he’ll look weak and confused. Motorists, reminded by the increasingly strong and slightly sinister car lobby, will abandon labour for a decade. Great move, Gordon.