Scottish Civil Servants Consider Taxing Cyclists

clonmahon

An old story from 2009 to Scotsman "A road tax on cyclists is being considered by Scottish Government civil servants.

The prospect of cyclists paying a charge, like motorists, to use roads comes in a document outlining the Scottish Government's vision for cycling"

http://www.scotsman.com/news/government_in_talks_over_tax_on_cyclists_1_1356291

Watch out folks if Michael Noonan reads this

Mr. Incognito

Impossible to police.

Daft idea

Victor

Many cyclsits already pay motor tax.

If they are using a bike, they aren't using that vehicle, are using less fuel and causing less congestion, less pollution and less damage to roads.

RobFowl

Cnuts

clonmahon

I didn't check before I posted but this story is two years old, so the idea did not fly in Scotland. But as more people take up cycling and public finances deteriorate it must be very tempting for civil servants to tax us

BostonB

They won't enforce it anyway.

You could probably steal the road, and get away with it these days.

Beasty

Rob was a little more civil with his comments last time we had a thread on this story

These daft ideas are cyclical. Next month it'll be more compulsory road helmet wearing.

tomasrojo

Of course, motorists in Scotland don't pay tax to use the road. They pay tax to own a motorised vehicle.

schemingbohemia

clonmahon wrote: »

I didn't check before I posted but this story is two years old, so the idea did not fly in Scotland. But as more people take up cycling and public finances deteriorate it must be very tempting for civil servants to tax us

You seem to have a very tenuous grasp on how our Government works here.

Civil Servants won't tax you, it will be the Government elected by the people that will tax you.

On topic, why resurrect a dead foreign based topic? Didn't happen there, won't happen here.

clonmahon

schemingbohemia wrote: »

You seem to have a very tenuous grasp on how our Government works here.

Civil Servants won't tax you, it will be the Government elected by the people that will tax you.

This is a discussion for the Politics section rather than here. But perhaps you are the one with the tenuous grasp of how Government works. The civil service is an eternal government, it takes a Minister with a strong personality to operate independently of the wishes of the civil service. Mostly the civil service capture the Minister and the elected politicians become ciphers. What about Micheal Noonan in opposition he was full of original ideas, in Government he is pursuing the same policies as Lenihan, policies that come from the Department of Finance. You are making the mistake of assuming the system works as advertised, mostly it doesn't.

schemingbohemia wrote: »

On topic, why resurrect a dead foreign based topic? Didn't happen there, won't happen here.

As I have already explained (see above) I posted in haste without checking the date.

BostonB

clonmahon wrote: »

....The civil service is an eternal government, it takes a Minister with a strong personality to operate independently of the wishes of the civil service.....

That hasn't been my experience of the Public sector. While certainly it can be obtuse and obstructive, especially the unions. Most of the crazy comes from the top down. A perfect example would politicians favouring their own backyards with projects like hospitals, and decentralisation etc.

That said, taxing cyclists doesn't require any thought, or analysis its pure daft out of the gate.

clonmahon

BostonB wrote: »

That hasn't been my experience of the Public sector. While certainly it can be obtuse and obstructive, especially the unions. Most of the crazy comes from the top down. A perfect example would politicians favouring their own backyards with projects like hospitals, and decentralisation etc.

Your probably right, although it seems that mostly it corporations that are running the world

coolbeans

clonmahon wrote: »

An old story from 2009 to Scotsman "A road tax on cyclists is being considered by Scottish Government civil servants.

The prospect of cyclists paying a charge, like motorists, to use roads comes in a document outlining the Scottish Government's vision for cycling"

http://www.scotsman.com/news/government_in_talks_over_tax_on_cyclists_1_1356291

Watch out folks if Michael Noonan reads this

Don't the land of the deep fried Mars bar have the highest heart disease rate in Europe? Clearly they want to keep it that way.