This week has seen the announcment of plans to interfere with that which needs no interference. Both are motoring related and extend beyond the concrete landscape of the urban wasteland, into the real world.
The first, by some bunny hugging save the planet eco weenies is a proposal to impose punitive taxes on the bigger polluting 4x4's in order to discourage their use. I know the tax was upped by his Wasteship earlier this year, but even Dr. Millipede confirmed on Radio 4 yesterday that it was not really going to make a difference. We all knew that, but then, as this is all to do with tax raising rather than behaviour altering, it came as no surprise.
This latest wheeze suggests annual licence fees be increased to... wait for it... £1,800 per vehicle. That is a 650% increase. So, in reality, those who need a 4x4 for their work with either pay up - or there will be an expensive to operate and police exemption scheme, wasting even more money - and those who don't need a 4x4 will pay because they can afford it.
Queue a complete failure to address global warming, but a nice little earner for No.11.... more »
