Anyone watching the fuel debate?

paulmapp8306

CLAPTON wrote: »

the difficulty of a single tax is that some people could avoid it altogether
so e.g a self employed person now pays tax and NI on their profit
but they can avoid income tax by setting up a limited company and paying themselves dividend; currently that's caught by corporation tax
captains of industry would ensure they make a lot of capital gains rather than income so; currently they have to pay cgt;
there are people in the black economy who pay no NI or income tax

so by having VAT and council tax and fuel tax everyone has to pay something

not perfect of course

Indeed - but a change in legislation that also reflects that should make it workable should it not?. That is any income/increase is treated as the same thing. Capital gains, company profits, dividends etc etc all attract the same tax.

CLAPTON

paulmapp8306 wrote: »

Indeed - but a change in legislation that also reflects that should make it workable should it not?. That is any income/increase is treated as the same thing. Capital gains, company profits, dividends etc etc all attract the same tax.

getting more complicated now
but even with that, it would mean that the black economy would avoid all taxes (as no VAT, fuel duty, booze tax or council tax) so we law abiding people would have to pay more that now overall.

personally I'ld like land / housing and sales taxes to rise as they are generally more difficult to avoid

Going4TheDream

reweird wrote: »

No you can car share. I know I come from the country. As stated a 2 car family is most definitely a luxury not a necessity. The reason you and others see it as a necessity is due to peoples maligned sense of entitlement that just because both partners work that they both deserve to get to work in their own vehicle. This is a complete fallacy. Any more than 1 car is a luxury, countryside or not.

Its not about luxury really though for some is it? It is either 'essential' or it is about 'convenience or quality of life'.

OH and I go different directions at different times.

Public transport for me is £87 a month but to run my car is £90.

Public transport takes an extra 90mins each way and a good walk at each end

My car is about convenience, but it is a convenience I can afford, and wouldn't give up as my quality of life would be awful doing a 4 hr round trip on top of a working day.

The difference financially is nil so why not have the car

OH cannot get public transport. His is essential

We accept the costs as such.....

reweird

Going4TheDream wrote: »

Its not about luxury really though for some is it? It is either 'essential' or it is about 'convenience or quality of life'.

OH and I go different directions at different times.

Public transport for me is £87 a month but to run my car is £90.

Public transport takes an extra 90mins each way and a good walk at each end

My car is about convenience, but it is a convenience I can afford, and wouldn't give up as my quality of life would be awful doing a 4 hr round trip on top of a working day.

The difference financially is nil so why not have the car

OH cannot get public transport. His is essential

We accept the costs as such.....

Everything you described is a luxury and a choice. You've chosen where you live and work and how to commute. Running more than 1 car is a luxury.

ruggedtoast

I am working in India at the moment. I was surprised that fuel is as expensive as it is here, about a pound a litre. A low paid worker will get about 2 quid a day so proportionately filling up a car is a massive comparative xpense.

I dont necessarily want england to end up like that though, we pay enough tax on fuel. If they want to add tax to someone make it proportionate to the stupidity of the car you drive.

Tabitha filling up her range rover wouldnt even notice if the cost per litre had an extra zero behind it and probably couldnt even tell you to the nearest 50p what the current price per litre is, as she sticks her nozzle in. The nurse in her 10 year old clio who has to get home from work in the middle of the night feels every penny they load on.

ILW

The much derided Range Rover is a great British (or Indian) success though.

Going4TheDream

reweird wrote: »

Everything you described is a luxury and a choice. You've chosen where you live and work and how to commute. Running more than 1 car is a luxury.

If the spending of 3 whole pounds a month more to save sixty hours of extra travelling time a month is a luxury in your eyes then yes I am guilty.

I work to live not live to work.

Thrugelmir

Going4TheDream wrote: »

Public transport for me is £87 a month but to run my car is £90.

Is that the full cost of running your car?

Going4TheDream

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Is that the full cost of running your car?

Yes, its low insurance @ £220 a year, £20 road tax, and 55/70mpg depending on driving. 1st year service at main dealer just cost £161. It had under 4500 on the clock... I probably do less than 80 miles a week in it on average and only have it to get to work as he buses are rubbish. Its still under warranty so I don't expect to be paying for anything except consumables and tyres for a further two years.

That doesn't factor in replacement cost of a new car admittedly as I paid cash when I bought it new last year, but I don't do car finance on toy cars. I bought it when everyone was doing vat free offers, and had nearly £2k discount through a work scheme on top, got £1000 from my old low mileage Ka from a friend, so parted with under £5k of my own.

J_i_m

Fuel prices are always going to relatively high from now on. It's not just the polictal and economic factors but the fact that sooner rather than later we're going to run out of fossil fuels.

To be honest, fuel prices at the pumps aren't any worse here than elsewhere in Europe, yes it's a !!!!!!....but the taxes can't exactly be reduced because it'd blow a massive hole in an already shallow economy.