Electric vehicles

[Adrian Caspersz]

There are plans going forward to make everything rental.

e.g.

Windows, you rent the OS and services.

Electric Microscooters, the only legal ones to ride on streets will be rental.

[Tim Streater]

It'll be God's punishment for using Windows.

[Adrian Caspersz]

At the moment various prices, depends on what you want, what it does, who you want to impress, will it be cost effective.

A "sports" luxury car costs an excessive amount, a small family hatchback costs more than the equivalent petrol version.

They will have depreciation given the spending of battery life, but maybe lower servicing costs as mechanically they have less bits to maintain.

Also some of the computer technology is complex and some not really serviceable by third parties, so a really used car may need to be recycled when it breaks.

Ultimately, personal ownership will fall. "Your new car" will actually be gained under a rental agreement, servicing and support included.

I don't feel right about Tesla handing out free supercharging to customers. They should pay tax-in-kind on providing that benefit. In the same vein that companies that supply free car parking (supermarkets), and them that do free delivery (amazon) should also be taxed on the service. Nothing is free.

It's time that the electorate had open access to discuss and amend taxation, and transparency on rules and dodgy provided loopholes. Ever seen Tolley's tax guide?

More people are going to live longer because of lower pollution and other environmental effects, so it is likely they can continue to work until the age of 75, pay more income tax and not claim all the state pension they contributed for.

Then ...

We will eventually have tax/insurance per journey, our personal usage tracked like it is with public transport. Private ownership and servicing of vehicles will decline - a rental subscription model is coming to allow access to the model of self driving car you've signed up for.

If you want to enjoy your own driving skills, you'll have to do it on a private track.... or do it in VR.

[Tim+]

In what way is this better than a simple mileage tax? A tyre tax would see a lot of cars running around on bald tyres or remoulds.

Daft idea.

Tim

[Tim+]

See my comments on energy poverty.

The only sensible plan in my opinion.

Tim

[Tim+]

So you?d need international agreement of the type of meter or meters just fitted to UK vehicles?

It?s a daft idea when taxing by mileage is simple to apply and needs no new technology.

Tim

[Tim Streater]

Just the point I was making earlier.

[invalid unparseable]

Bullshit.

[charles]

in the 1930s, a friend of my father used to fly himself from the Island of Islay to Manchester since he had businesses in both places.

[Robin]

Your faith in HMRC* is touching. Somewhat bemusing given the track record on e.g. missing trader fraud, personal service companies and disguised remuneration schemes. Still, touching nonetheless. And a firm hand at the tiller and clear order "full steam ahead" these days may well receive the response "Yes, Chancellor, all the obstacles can be overcome." <sotto voce> "If you don't mind a re-run of the community charge."

*tax policy has been the responsibility of HM Treasury since 2005. So in principle it falls to them to come up with options to fill the gap left by fuel duties. That said, when things go wrong it's never, ever the Treasury's fault.

[tim...]

The plans for retrospective billing back to keeper, predated the possibility that cars would be always connected

They worked on the basis of the sealed-units storing the data and uploading it whenever they managed to contact a suitable base station, with a pseudo-penalty "system" to catch people who managed to drive around without ever uploading that data.

[tim...]

by locating themselves in town centres (when PT is a viable alternative to walking)

not in out of the way trading estates, where driving is your only viable option

[nightjar]

As I also pointed out, if the tax were collected at the point of sale when using public charging points, the meter would only be there to measure the amount of charge taken at home.

Really? How is it payment going to be collected? How are you going to know the mileages unless you accurately track every vehicle in the country? If you do that, how will that be achieved without people raising privacy concerns?

Neither does sticking a smart meter in every electric car. However, both would need a lot more existing technology to be installed.

[Andrew]

That's what passes for 'work' on the internet.

[Andrew]

There is always that static, immoveable source of lots of juicy revenue, Britain's stupidly overpriced houses.

[Tim+]

In NZ we simply paid a mileage surcharge at the end of our hire period. This wasn?t a hire company charge but a government tax.

I don?t think continuous monitoring or metering is needed as long as a tamper-proof mileage logging system is used.

I don?t think it would be that hard to institute a similar system here.

Tim

[nightjar]

You still have the problems of reading it and charging for the use.

Which would amount to fitting a different type of smart meter to the car

- one that reads mileage instead of electricity use.

[invalid unparseable]

More bullshit. Remote diagnosis etc etc etc is nothing like that.

Same with remote reconfig of complex systems instead of having to visit in person.

[ARW]

And the higher orders never commit any crimes?

Take Jeffery Archer as an example.

Have you read any of the books he wrote? Bring back hanging IMHO.

[ARW]

Pray Jesus we have seen the light and will never commit another crime?