More Green Taxes For Motorists?
September 24 2007
More green taxes for motorists?
It has been reported today that the City Council in Nottingham are thinking of charging employers with more than ten car parking spaces £185 per space, rising to over £300, per year.
The spokesperson today said that the money could be used to increase the number of tram networks and also provide more buses. It is thought that the charge will put people off driving their cars to work and so help with congestion - a problem in all of our cities. The spokesman said that this is a fairer tax than using congestion charges, which targets all people, as the most congestion is caused by people driving to work.
It all sounds very green - cut cars, cut congestion, cut pollution, less cars make our roads safer to use bicycles, I could go on. The reality is that if the public transport is not in place first, then these people that are being taxed out of using their cars have a real problem actually getting to work.
When I had to get to the other side of Nottingham for 9 a.m. I would have had to get a bus at 6.30 a.m., stand in a deserted city at 6.45 a.m. for 50 minutes and then get another bus, to arrive at a deserted office for 40 minutes before I could get in. Anything later than 6.30 a.m. did not get me to the office on time.
I tried cycling, but the cars and buses barely missed me and I felt choked with car fumes by the time I got there. I decided that my only practical choice was to drive. I did share with one other person until they moved, so I tried my best to be greener, but we all have to make choices that are practical as well as being environmentally friendly.
My second point is the concern that so called “green taxes” are being raised with little or no reward to environmentally friendly consumers according to the latest studies by the TaxPayers Alliance. The studies also show that we are paying £10 billion nationwide more than it costs to cover our carbon footprint.
If the additional monies are being used to provide us with things like an amazing, low cost, very accessible public transport system then fine. That certainly wasn’t being promised today in Nottingham. So my question is - why are we not using this money to provide adequate public transport before asking for even more taxes???
Comments
Post a comment
All comments are moderated and will not appear until the have been approved, so please no link spam or other pointless posts.
