Pollution Charge.

[ellal]

What I can never understand is how paying money will make the difference? All it may end up doing is stopping a few, most who can afford it will just carry on driving them. If the Authorities are so "commited" on cleaning up the planet then enforce a total ban, this includes all Polluting businesses, power plants etc etc.

It's just talk and a nioe little money earner as it stands at the moment.

The only way money (i.e. taxes, in this case a car congestion charge) could possibly make a difference is if it was used to offset alternative travel costs, and to be shown unequivocably to be doing so...

For example, none of the bull about funding a better system that we'll have to wait another decade for, but something up front like fare prices...the trains are actually reasonably priced - OFF PEAK!. If you really want to change people's travel habits, then use the money raised (and other 'green taxes') to reduce the cost of peak train fares as far as possible to match the off-peak fares..and the increasing numbers would then fund capacity increases since the other costs would be offset.

In the same way, 'ring fence' any new 'carbon' tax so that it directly funds an alternative to the problem it is supposed to try and solve!

But as usual, any new taxes raised will be syphoned off to pay for other (usually politically beneficial) 'projects'..

No wonder then that most are sceptical, and see us in the UK getting taxed whilst the majority of the polluters do nothing...because at the moment 'green taxes' = 'stealth taxes'!!

 

[tim west]

The one flaw in what you are saying is that as services improve and people get rid of their vehicles, then the revenue would drop and not be able to sustain the improved services

 

[ellal]

The one flaw in what you are saying is that as services improve and people get rid of their vehicles, then the revenue would drop and not be able to sustain the improved services

Hence why I deliberately said....

then use the money raised (and other 'green taxes')