The Labour Government

Some very fair points. Your Reeves and you see tax revenue from fuel duty declining. What do you do?

You can’t whack up fuel duty as that impacts the poorest most. I’d imagine a large number of business use cars are electric so those who travel a lot would not be paying anything like the wear and tear they put on the roads (given how heavy these electric cars are). Annual car tax based on value at purchase is actually reasonable policy as it means electric cars pay more as they cost more - perhaps getting revenue from the hybrid/EV car owners that way? But then it discourages take up.

So you’re right it’s probably not great policy towards net zero. But I’m struggling to see what levers the government has.

Isn't it something that will happen over a reasonably long timeframe?

The average age of a scrapped car had reached 16 years in 2021 (latest figures I could find). That means there could still be millions of ICE cars on the road in 2051. You'd assume that the switch to electric will happen quicker, but it's still going to be gradual.

At some point you've also got health benefits of lowered pollution kicking in, and do we know what the economics of a net zero economy will be?

When you consider that Reeves managed to deal with £22bn worth of changes in her first statement, replacing a similar amount gradually over a couple of decades, when there will be plenty of benefits too, is probably not something she'd be having sleepless nights about right now.
 
I love how many Tories know what is coming the the budget from pay per mile motoring through VAT increases to more attacks on pensioners. Whereas instead of the few announcements made in the manifesto like VAT on school fees Reeves is observing a period of Purdah as is traditional not that Sunak ever did that we would know his budget by now
 
I love how many Tories know what is coming the the budget from pay per mile motoring through VAT increases to more attacks on pensioners. Whereas instead of the few announcements made in the manifesto like VAT on school fees Reeves is observing a period of Purdah as is traditional not that Sunak ever did that we would know his budget by now

We’ve been discussing possible policy choices not saying they are definitely happening.

After your numerous ridiculous Twitter posts over the years it’s a shame to see you’ve learned nowt and still don’t read before posting.
 
Yup. Flat fee + charge per mile. As you’ll only be able to track mileage on main roads the flat fee is to cover people who never really venture out on them
Really looking forward to all the villages being used as rat runs to avoid the road charging and having swathes of cars running through them at rush hour.

You would also need to find a way of monitoring cars by some other means than their number plate. The amount of cars running false plates these days is ever growing. The police in 2020 received reports of 20000 false number plates, but the actual number is thought to be much higher.
 
Last edited:
You know I think it's funny - and extremely misleading - how the media like to portray this.

They will talk about increased tax burden due to fiscal drag, as if it is some additional pain that taxpayers will feel, an increased tax on them making them poorer.

Of course this is bullshit. When allowances are frozen, no-one pays any additional income tax unless they get a pay rise. And if they do get a pay rise then since income tax rates are never higher than 47% (45% + 2% NI) then you always get to keep at least 53p in every pound of your pay rise. Usually keeping much more than 53p.

i.e. people are always better off as their pay increases. (Of course this excludes the effects of inflation, but inflation also affects their savings and other assets, so is a complicated distraction.)
Nice try. But it's obviously one reason why the "tax burden" is at a record high.
 
We’ve been discussing possible policy choices not saying they are definitely happening.
I'm afraid some posters might have missed the theoretical nature of these debates, judging by the rants about tax changes that are "possible policy choices".
 
No, I’m questioning why Reeves is saying there will be no return to austerity - and, more pertinently, why people are believing her - when she is raising taxes and reducing expenditure.
By citing a Tory tax measure?

You're coming up with some odd stuff.
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.