Oct 01
2p on fuel tax is lazy revenue raising
John Redwood on why today’s addition of 2p per litre on fuel tax will make no difference to the environment because people will continue to use their cars, trucks and motorbikes (my emphasis):
“They have no choice. There aren’t enough trains to take the strain, and so often the only practical way of getting yourself and your goods to work and to market is to go by road. People do need to get the children to school, themselves to their employment, and do need to pick up the family shopping from the supermarket. They are not being wicked doing this by car - it is often the only way.”
October 1st, 2007 at 12:36 pm
However, they *are* being wicked by driving their kid 1/2 mile to school, or driving a few hundred meters to the local corner shop……
It’s no wonder there are so many grossly overweight people who do no exercise what so ever - apart from climbing into and out from their car.
Personally I’d be happy if the petrol price doubled - after all, oil is a limited resource, and we can’t keep using it forever. We have no choice as a nation but to find alternative sources of energy for powering our transport infrastructure in the medium/long term.
David.
October 1st, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Absolutely, but also no. I get the family shopping delivered by the Tesco van, so that only one vehicle has to make the trip round the houses. The fact that I don’t have a car probably has something to do with it too… I sacrifice some of the convenience of choice and I have to plan a little more sometimes, but the car is certainly not the only way in this case.
There are, however, also a lot of unnecessary trips by car. I see people driving to the station in the morning who have absolutely no need. They only live a couple of streets away from me and my walk to the station is only 10-15 minutes. This is the sort of people that a rise in tax should be designed to hit.
Also, if more people think about this kind of thing when they choose which house to live in, which job to go for, where to shop, then there may be long-term knock-on effects in terms of planning and facilities. I think that is wishful thinking, although people actually wanting organic and local food, for instance, is having a large effect on farming and the food industry. As well as attempting to reduce journeys, increasing tax will also encourage fuel efficient cars. This has already happened to a large extent.
Car users are certainly not wicked, but John Redwood’s comment makes it sound like a simple car vs no-car argument. It can also be put in terms of using your car less, make decisions- if you can- that mean you don’t need to use it so much, make cars even more efficient, encourage uptake of alternative fuels that will have a higher initial cost so will not otherwise get off the ground, and so on.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Fuel-tax isn’t a progressive tax. By all means attack the gas-guzzlers via car-tax, but fuel-pricing affects the average family, who need a car for work, disproportionately.