Road tax set to double....

[jonrb 0]

Fortunately for all us Corrado owners it's only a £5 increase this year, but I do agree it is disgusting.

 

Not quite as disgusting as the "Congestion Charge" (sic) though, which appears now to be a Pollution Tax or Environmental Tax in everything other than name.

[dinkus 10]

I love how this thread that originally started about a potential doubling of road tax has turned into a rant on the enivornment... and the actual road tax increase was just £5 :lol:

 

Gotta love CF :D

[scarlet_vr6 0]

I was thinking that too dinkus, but as a guilty party I was keeping quiet :oops: :oops:

[mic_VR 3]

Although the good folks of the CF have over reacted to the whole tax thing, i still think some very valid point have been raised.

 

TBH i'm just glad that i'll be able to afford my car tax this month, although I'm not so hopeful for subsequent months now that good old Gordon has screwed us all on Income tax! :cry:

[Tempest 0]

I'm assuming it means income tax is changing to 20 percent, not pence

 

Yeah spotted that too, both on the BBC website and in the PDF version of the entire budget (which I did read, well the relevant bits anyway, because blurb on equality of British people and whatnot, I don't care about; figures, let the figures speak :-) ), and was thinking to myself all the time pence? That doesn't make sense, until it dawned upon me that although the rest of the world use the % sign or the word percent to denote percent, the UK government (and the BBC) use p for %. Confused or what?

 

Tempest

[joebloggsVR69 0]

They probably meant 20p in the pound, so 20%

[Yandards 0]

Those people that are planning an R32 engine conversion the change in tax band is not applicable.

 

It is all tied into when you need to get a car re-registered depending on the work done to it.

 

The older classic car owners have issues with this and the DVLA 'point scores' the owners ability to retain the original registration mark depending on what has been changed/replaced and how much is left of the original vehicle.

 

Highest points usually apply to chassis changes etc and engine changes are not that far up the points scale.

 

So to summarise, crack on with the R32 conversion it won't mean any higher tax!!

[dr_mat 0]

What a load of arse.

(Commenting about a page back or more, who knows?)

 

It's interesting how some people seem to associate "the politic approach" with "the corrupt approach". Reality is that I don't particularly care for the government's approach to road use/taxation but I can see that we have a problem. It is not possible for us to build enough roads to make the ones we have move cleanly even in the rush hour. Certainly it's not possible while the public transport policy is a hands-off one. Meanwhile we have an environmental problem and everyone seems to be in a bit of a tizz about how to deal with it.

 

And then we appear to have a bunch of holocaust-deniers saying that global warming does not exist. Fine, believe what you want, but until you spent three years working full time researching your statements please don't claim they're anything more than conjecture..

 

That moon rocket begins to look more appealing ...

[G60Jet 1]

I'm assuming it means income tax is changing to 20 percent, not pence

 

Yeah spotted that too, both on the BBC website and in the PDF version of the entire budget (which I did read, well the relevant bits anyway, because blurb on equality of British people and whatnot, I don't care about; figures, let the figures speak :-) ), and was thinking to myself all the time pence? That doesn't make sense, until it dawned upon me that although the rest of the world use the % sign or the word percent to denote percent, the UK government (and the BBC) use p for %. Confused or what?

 

Tempest

income tax of 20 percent is 20 pence in the pound :lol:

[dr_mat 0]

income tax of 20 percent is 20 pence in the pound :lol:

 

Which is another joke. How long have we known that income tax cuts are the least fair way of redistributing wealth among the population?

 

Though at least he's made the first little baby step towards simplifying the tax system by getting rid of one of the bands. (Why do we need bands at all??!)

[Tempest 0]

Pence to the pound or %, if you're talking % you should use the %-symbol, or is it because politicans assume we, the population, are too dumb to know what the %-symbol denotes (if so, tough on those that are too dumb, Darwin theory, survival of the fittest :lol:). Tax rates in my book are expressed in %, they certainly are in all Crown stationary like tax self assessment forms.

 

Ranting ... :lol:

 

Tempest

[Leavon 0]

And then we appear to have a bunch of holocaust-deniers saying that global warming does not exist. Fine, believe what you want, but until you spent three years working full time researching your statements please don't claim they're anything more than conjecture.

 

I find that pretty offensive to compare belief in the grey science of climate change with the factual historic record of the deaths of millions of jews. Just because some of us haven't succumbed to the global warming brainwashing don't confuse us with fascist right wing holocaust deniers.

 

Maybe you ought to add arrogance to the sarcasm and irony listed in your signature.

[dr_mat 0]

Maybe you're right. I was pissed. Que sera... I retract the offensive remark.

 

Anyway, fact remains I *have* researched this, and it *is* real (based on my evidence). You have a right to tell me you don't believe me, but you don't have a right to tell me I'm wrong until you've done the same..

[mic_VR 3]

income tax of 20 percent is 20 pence in the pound :lol:

 

Which is another joke. How long have we known that income tax cuts are the least fair way of redistributing wealth among the population?

 

Though at least he's made the first little baby step towards simplifying the tax system by getting rid of one of the bands. (Why do we need bands at all??!)

 

Don't forget he may be cutting the basic rate band from 22% to 20% but he's getting rid of the 10% band altogether. Which means that a person earning £20K is only going to be about £20 better off. Classic gives with one hand, takes with the other!

[jonrb 0]

Classic gives with one hand, takes with the other!

Trouble with Gordon Brown is that his hands are like Jeremy Beadle's - and you can guess which is which. ;)

 

(I can't take credit for that analogy - we're having the same discussion on psitonheads.com and someone else came up with it)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

:lol: LOL, good call Jon!

 

Dr_Mat, where's this evidence then? I'm waiting for the unequivocal proof that the world is heading for a Holocaust, as you so rather dramatically put it.

 

It is not our job as sceptics to prove the theory is wrong because we're not the ones running around crying Wolf are we? If the Sky is about to fall on Chicken Licken's head for definite, then I want the evidence in B&W.

 

Humans are so complacent, so convinced of their own superiority and dominance of the globe and I find it very arrogant that people assume the world is falling apart based on a pin prick's worth of study against the world's infinite lifetime.

[StuartFZR400 0]

Confirmation off the BBC News site for the road tax:

"Cars registered before 1 March 2001: taxed on engine size; over 1549cc £175 a year, below £110."

 

Sure I paid about 170 or 175 last time. Suits me fine!!

 

The BBC site has a calculator worth looking at. But doesn't take into account of the National Insurance hike for 2009.

[davidwort 0]

...Highest points usually apply to chassis changes etc and engine changes are not that far up the points scale....

 

damn, that's scuppered my plans for a six wheel C.

[dr_mat 0]

Dr_Mat, where's this evidence then? I'm waiting for the unequivocal proof that the world is heading for a Holocaust, as you so rather dramatically put it.

 

It is not our job as sceptics to prove the theory is wrong because we're not the ones running around crying Wolf are we? If the Sky is about to fall on Chicken Licken's head for definite, then I want the evidence in B&W.

 

The evidence is all around us. Go do some research, figure it out for yourself. You and I are both people who won't take anyone's word for it. (Some people call us stubborn bastards.)

 

You should know that people don't generally set out to prove something when they're doing research (though obviously this is not always the case - oil company funded research tends to be either positive or supressed..).

 

You define a hypothesis (e.g. "the average earth temperature has increased in the last 50 years"), then you define some tests that will conclusively prove or disprove your hypothesis (remembering that only a single counter-example will render it entirely null and void), and then you follow through. IF you discover that your hypothesis is NOT true, then that is a valid result. If you discover that it is true, then that is your result. Either way you publish it in the scientific journals, and you move on to your next project. Pragmatism is the key to good research.

 

But let's be honest here. Most people who are complaining about the so-called swindle wouldn't have even broke a sweat about it if it wasn't hitting them in the pocket. (And we're talking peanuts here, too. So a Golf R32 will cost you £400 road tax. Big fat hairy deal!)

 

My personal opinion? Road tax and road charging should be abolished/dropped and every penny of road taxation should be taken from fuel duty. But then I also think that all other forms of personal taxation should be abolished and replaced with an increase income tax rate. Perhaps I'm old fashioned but reality is these are the only fair ways to collect taxation.

[Tempest 0]

then you define some tests that will conclusively prove or disprove your hypothesis

 

That's in an ideal world, as I, too, have been involved in research (ultimately leading to my PhD), attended many a conference, where research teams from competing institutions (competing for money and fame - which itself can lead to more money, obviously) slagged each other off in front of hundreds of delegates, over simple things like very often the validity of test methods chosen, let alone the interpretation of the results collected. Research can be a battlefield in its own right, so much politics involved (always because of funding and fame), one of the reasons why I left academia once I had my PhD.

 

Tempest

[dr_mat 0]

Like I said.. pragmatism is the key.

 

You're right, but the competitiveness of researchers these days is a direct result of the government's attitude to funding. If you don't have the media profile they aren't interested in funding you, and you don't get the media profile without doing those "contentious" subjects.

 

There is a requirement, imho, in a so-called sophisticated society for pure, abstract, "blue sky" research. So many technology developments we have benefitted from have only happened because of non-applied research done years ago.

 

We need pure science to exist so that we can carry on developing cool things..

[PhatVR6 0]

I have 2 cars, they both have 3.2 V6's, get in there.

[craigowl 0]

I have explained this before, but there are none so blind as those who do not want to see. So, repeating myself from a few months ago, from my viewpoint Scotland's climate has and IS going through a dramatic change in climate. Further, I believe from close contact with people who are dealing with the climate change studies that the changes are on a world wide scale.

From what I know about databases of CO2 readings over a long run of decades, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have been increasing markedly. Further, I have no reason to disbelieve specialists who say this will cause further global warming.

 

1 - I am NOT convinced that anything we do will arrest the change.

2 - I do NOT want to lose the enjoyment of driving a VR6, NOR do I force down people's throats the view that they should all drive tiny fuel efficient cars.

3- I do NOT believe in massive disruptive changes to our lifestyle, for I am 61 and not too bothered about the future beyond a few years.

4 - I believe mankind to be resilient and able to adapt. If they fail, so be it.

 

On newspaper forums I have visited, it is strange how everyone who knows you know UK warming is taking place are surprised that you are not a green zealot. They all seem to think that if you understand climate change is taking place you must be a fanatic of the environmental kind.

 

I sympathise with the frustration of dr_mat and all other people who have inside knowledge of how the climate works who are countered by every armchair or pub expert who does not even know how meteorological readings are made.

[chrishill 0]

I have 2 cars, they both have 3.2 V6's, get in there.

 

Wouldn't your corrado still fall in to the pre 2001 band since IIRC its the age of the car, regardless of when the engine was made?

 

Also it looks like its only the auto's that are in the higher band for 'new' cars.

[PhatVR6 0]

probably,but I don't care, seeing as it's still registered as a 2.0, and SORN'd, and might never even go back on the road due to the never ending assault the govenrment has install for us motorists.

 

buy a van abd a trailer, tow it to track days. drive as fast as you possibly can, do 6mpg, go home happy. (and possibly be disgusted when you get told off for making too much noise at donnington, whilst jumbo jet's fly overhead defeaning you and dropping unburnt fuel ont he track.......)