Budget

[The Medway Handyman]

Great news! £26m to make homes greener. Since there are about 26m homes in the UK, we all get just over a quid each.

That should sort the problem out.

[Grumps]

I think I'll spend my quid on carrier bags.

[mark]

It's for a sample pot of green emulsion

mark

[Colin Wilson]

Oh goody, one cheap chinese low energy lamp a piece :-}

[Dave]

Why? When the supermarkets are giving them away :-)

I went into Tesco the other day to get a few things to tempt me to eat. On the way out, I noticed about a million ? give away carrier bags stacked up on the floor. You know when you walk past the printed word, it doesn't always sink in. I stopped and went back to look and they are now claiming that they are bio degradable. Will this be before or after you get your shopping into the car? ;-)

Dave

[Owain]

If they stop giving "free" carrier bags (with an opportunity cost of 1 green clubcard point, worth 1p) then I shall have to buy binbags which are 2.5p each.

And as the binbags are bigger I can get all my rubbish in them and put them in the wheeliebin, instead of putting the kitchen waste in the carrier bag > wheeliebin and the recycling separate > blue box.

Owain

[The Natural Philosopher]

I note the further advances on taxes on possession, under the guise of 'green taxes'

Presumably because Tory voters have possessions.

I already have to run a less fuel efficient car than I would like, because the road tax issue means keeping an extra small car for general use, is not cost effective, if you need a larger one more than occasionally..

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The VED on a small car is a tiny part of the overall running costs. And has been *reduced* over the last few years. So your argument makes no sense.

[The Natural Philosopher]

It is mot certainly NOT a small part of the cost of running any car if you do very little mileage.

[Clive George]

If it's a new car, it'll be dwarfed by depreciation. If it's an old one, tax is 120 quid/year for a small car. For 2000 miles/year, fuel will be 200 quid, insurance anything from 100-500 quid, MOT 50 quid + any repairs, purchase cost still 200 quid/year or so. So it's still only small part of the cost - you've got another car cluttering up the place, and either money flushing down the drain from depreciation or the hassle of running an older car.

Of course, you could choose a more efficient "larger" car than you currently have...

clive

[The Natural Philosopher]

Now do the sums for an old car self maintained on about 50 quid insurance a year.

[Clive George]

Already did. It's still "bugger all".

[Mark]

If the government keep going the way they are going it'll be cheaper to run two small cars than one large car! If in the majority of journeys the large car is full (as in my case) then this makes a mockery of these "so called" green taxes.

M.

[:Jerry:]

The ONLY fair way of taxing motor vehicles if one is to make the polluter pay is to scrap the VED and have a higher fuel tax, that way someone who owns a Renault Espace (to move their large family group around) but only does an annual mileage of 1k will pay for the pollution they cause whilst someone who owns a SMART car whilst doing an annual mileage of 60k will pay for the pollution they cause - who is causing the more pollution, the "Gas guzzler" or the "Green Hippie"?...

[geoff]

... who has a £2500 heating bill etc

[The Natural Philosopher]

Exactly. BUT it's a way to tax tory voters under the pretense of green taxes.

Taxes on capital are iniquitous.

>

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You really don't know the VED on a small car, do you?

[:Jerry:]

There is only one small car that has zero VED, it's not has not been sold in this country for a few years and its availability (to say the least...) was some what limited when it was, all other cars have to pay the VED and that cost (to the motorist) is relative to the vehicles annual mileage, that was the point being made by "TNP".

[Mark]

Hear hear!

So if I don't vote Tory it won't affect me ;-)

Is this a Tax on capital? I don't think so - a car depreciates in value.

M.

[Bob Mannix]

I believe the VW Polo Bluemotion is available (from last year) and is zero rated. Any car with emissions less than 100g/km is zero rated