Original: It's almost too much to believe, but London is contemplating a £25 daily tax on 'gas-guzzling' cars. We've covered the tax before, but Londoners could be feeling the pressure of the bill in the very near future - the tax bill will be decided this week. The goal is not to inflate city coffers to the bursting point - although that's likely to be the short-term result - but rather to help London cut its carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2025. Whatever the justification, those entering London in SUVs, older cars, or other somewhat less than efficient vehicles will be faced with a dilemma.
What makes a gas-guzzler in London? Emitting more than 225g CO2 per 100km - which works out to vehicles with a fuel efficiency of less than 24 mpg US or 9.78L/100km. That's sure to be a fair portion of the traffic that currently enters the city each day. The plan had originally included an exemption for London residents within the taxed zone, but that exemption has been removed for drivers of four-wheel drive and luxury cars, reports Reuters UK. While that certainly shows an increased attention to the green goals of the project, one has to wonder why the exemption isn't removed for all vehicles - are highly polluting cheap cars desirable, while luxury cars are to be despised? Or should highly polluting two-wheel drives be treated any differently from their more off-road capable brethren?
Owners of such non-exempt cars who continue to drive in London each day will be forced to pay £6,500 (roughly US$13,000) annually. That's just a bit short of the price of some small hatchbacks - new - in the UK, and would buy any number of petrol-sipping econo-cars used.
The tax - if passed - will become part of the city's larger green initiative, which includes promoting the use of bicycles in the city, fitting new filters to city equipment and buildings and the low-emission zone targeting heavy trucks, which went into effect on Monday in the zone encircled by the M25.
Reader Comments
Mon Feb 11 2008 3:56 PM
chris says
so long as the tax fines are used to fund the rest of the city improvement project.. i completely agree with it. hey.. rich people should get taxed more. because theyre rich. im sorry. just the way it should be. everyone should have to give up a certain percentage.. not a certain amount. im sure england is the same as every other country... the rich are filthy rich.
i'd be pissed if they were just hoarding the money but if they use it to help give companies aid to reduce their emissions then thats great. i've said before i dont like the whole BS about global warming but emissions could stand to be reduced a little. and why not steal from the rich in the land of nottingham? (i know london isnt nottingham.... gawd)
Mon Feb 11 2008 6:50 PM
HECTOR says
Chris:
Remind me not to vote for you my friend. Your words are socialistic. You'd fit right in in Europe. The term is *income redistribution*. I've lived under communist and socilist governments. Have you?
The rich already pay more in taxes than we, the not so rich, do. You want to punish them with high taxes simply because they're better off than us. That's not the American Way. In America we work hard to try to achieve that wealth, we don't try to take it away from others because we're envious. Then again there are many people that agree with you. I wonder how you'd all feel if it were you sititng in the wealthy chair.
But this is a moot point. As the article points out this unjust tax will be levied against all cars that make less than 24mpg. There are many family cars / crossovers / SUVs / whatever that don't make that figure. They are, by no means, rich people's cars. And they'll be punished. Maybe they can only afford that car, an old rustbucket, and now the government in London is telling them to pay $13K a year for the privilege of driving on the streets of their own city.
Or use the bicycle more. It's not like it rains a lot in London, is it?
Tue Feb 12 2008 8:41 AM
chris says
yeah your right hector, i have lived in a socialist government. Canada.
hector, in Canada, If you make 100,000$ a year, the government takes half of it. income tax is 20% TO START. I have lived with 50% of my parents wages being taken away for all of my life. And they still manage to own their own home, something that apparently most Americans cant do, cause their too busy spending their money on useless crap. As a student, I enjoy a tax free haven because I live below the poverty line. Its a great system. Really. I can't support myself so the government doesn't tax me.
And thats the reason why I cant walk 10 feet in Detroit without some one asking me if i can spare some change. I'm not going to say Canada has no homeless, but it is truly sad to me that the richest nation in the world can leave so many millions on their streets and in the cold.
hector, no matter what country you live in, as soon as you break free of the middle class, you've become wealthy beyond your means. thats the definition of upper class. people who have so much money, that even after the government takes their cut, and they pay their mortgages (assuming they HAVE a mortgage), they still have money to blow on yachts and second or third cars, etc.
If you meet a Canadian who is truly sick of getting taxed as much as they are, the please, invite them to get the hell out of my country.
but yes, it is all a moot point. this may come as a shock to you but people who are driving into london in any kind of large 5 (or more) seater has got many many other much higher expenses. If you're carting you're children into london every day, then your school bills are no doubt astronomical. You've got more than just $13,000 in gas taxes to worry about. Petrol costs $8 a gallon in UK. Understand now why "the family car" in the UK is the ford focus? Understand now why everyone makes a huge deal about diesel having 30% more energy? Income taxes in Europe are already much higher than any American could fathom. I can assure you that the people driving these vehicles CAN afford this tax. you can get yourself and 4 passengers into London quite easily without violating this tax.
I assure you to an American, I really do understand how $13,000 a year in taxes just to drive a large vehicle into an urban center sounds like the Communist bloc, but this is how the REST of the world works. I believe it was this site that provided a figure of just how many vehicles this would effect. There's only about 5,000 vehicles going into London every day that this tax effects. I'm sure the 5,000 wealthiest people in London can afford a $13,000 a year tax.
and yes, I understand that your view (like an astonishingly high percentage of Americans) is that "It's my hard earned money, I should be able to keep it"... as your country's highways fall apart and you're nations trade deficit moves into the TRILLIONS of dollars. all of that aside, I said nothing about stealing from the rich to give to the poor. What i said is take money from those who have it to improve the city in ways that the city cannot afford.
The point here is that London is going to try to become a certain calibre of "green city". you and I both share the same view on global warming and all this crap, but I simply cannot argue with some one trying to cut pollution. And if London needs money to make it happen, should they implement an even percentage tax on all the citizens' incomes? or maybe they should just tax the people who have already got enough money to cook around otherwise flat London in a 4x4 eating up $8 a gallon in petrol? Better than taxing everyone equally and oh no, now little Timmy doesn't get his turkey this Christmas.
Way to go Hector; you just killed little Timmy.
Tue Feb 12 2008 9:56 AM
chris says
ok some of that may be viewed as anti-american, and i dont want anyone to think that i hate america. theres a lot that i love about america.. I go to Detroit at least once a month.. But i just think theres a lot of things about america that need fixing, and one of those things is the extremely capitalist nature of the country. It just seems to me that Americans don't understand that countries are run and defended through tax dollars. I know it is part of your history and culture to fight oppressive governments and that is a good thing, but Americans are some of the least oppressed people in the world, and some of the least taxed, and its rather annoying to hear about sub-prime lending crises (buy a house that you can afford people. and actually own it. america is the only place in the world that you can get an interest only loan.), about "high" gas prices (of countries that consume more oil than they produce, you get the cheapest gasoline in the world), "high taxes" (again, some of the cheapest taxes in the world), etc.
I'm glad some one had the balls to go to Iraq. I'm saddened that it hasnt worked out as well as it should have. I was telling people 6 years ago that they needed to send more people.. more people...
I like the states, but I love canada. I'd rather be a part of a country where much or most of my wages go to support such a proud, healthy, and prosperous nation. I just think that the states could learn a little something about national pride and brotherhood if there wasn't such a huge contrast between the very rich and the very poor.
Americans really need to look around and see how the rest of the world works. I can barely understand how 30 million Canadians can keep this country afloat with the high taxes we pay, let alone 300 million Americans keeping the American juggernaut going with the low taxes you pay.
Tue Feb 12 2008 4:13 PM
James says
I agree with Chris - about America. It's so true.
Tue Feb 12 2008 4:43 PM
VanDog says
Look at the slow decay of many American Cities. Collapsing crime ridden cores, surrounded by prosperous Suburbs. Ken Livingstone has just invented a way to speed up that process. I am predicting a sudden exodus of business, and residents from London.
Tue Feb 12 2008 6:54 PM
HECTOR says
My friend, if (as you put it) that's *how the rest of the world works* I only have one thing to say:
GOD BLESS AMERICA
(and I'm atheist!)
Tue Feb 12 2008 9:18 PM
Gunnar Heinrich says
This taxation in the name of Global Warming is 100% bogus. Long after scientists have debunked the myth that humans affect our world's climate patterns, governments will find new reasons to keep the taxes they've levied. Ken Livingstone is without shame.
Tue Feb 12 2008 9:40 PM
Gus says
I see both sides.
But I am miffed whenever another freedom is taken away.
The problem, as I see it, is that this is such a small measure of what affects the planet, you might as well ask every person in China not to fart and it would have 10x the impact.
My point is, focus on what really makes a difference, all the old crappy vehicles in the second and third world, the industrial pollution, etc.
I just saw a program that shows cow gas in the US (burps and farts) cause more greenhouse gas than ALL THE SUV'S IN AMERICA COMBINED. That's what I'm saying, stop focusing on the silly little issues to raise money and get your name in the headlines...
Wed Feb 13 2008 4:19 AM
Mike says
On one hand, it's just another practical means to decongest the city, reduce local smog, and make it more friendly to pedestrian traffic. On the other hand, penalizing people that work hard and reward themselves with a vehicle of certain sorts--(transfers money to the people that built the car) seems ludicrous.
Wed Feb 13 2008 8:30 AM
chris says
van dog: this only pertains to people who are driving INTO london on a daily basis. this is taxing suburban londoners for commuting INTO the city with USELESSLY huge cars.
gus; thank you. Methane is 100x worse than CO2. but you dont see anyone spending any time on methane. its been estimated that the world's beef industry produces the same amount of methane as all of asias rice patties, which is about 1/100 the amount of CO2 that is put out by the world's automobiles.
so if you want to save the planet, go vegan, and cut the rice. I've always said that people who want to buy the prius should be told these facts. you'll actually do the planet more good by buying the car that you actually want, and get a switch to tofu burgers.
but that puts the onus on the person and not the car that they drive. personal sacrifice is too much. how about just reducing your consumption of EVERYTHING. thats too hard for people to understand though.
and the whole thing is a crock. science has not proven global warming. they have a lot of evidence of it, and by a lot, i mean it makes for a compelling argument that i cannot deny. but we just don't know with any appreciable certainty.
Global Warming is a fraud. scientist around the world should be ashamed.
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