Saturday
Jun072008
A tax on forgetfulness
Saturday, June 7, 2008
My bank account is £120 lighter today. All my own fault. A couple of weeks ago I drove into London, stayed overnight, and forgot to pay the congestion charge - on both days!! That's a £60 fine for each day.
My only gripe is, they should give us a bit longer to pay - 48 hours, for example. This year I have been caught out four times. I've never tried to beat the system. (As far as I can see it's impossible - there are cameras everywhere.) My problem is that I forget to pay on the day and by the time I remember (usually in the middle of the following night) it's too late.
I can't believe I'm alone in this but giving people 48 hours to pay would no doubt reduce revenue - and there aren't many politicians around who will vote to do that. I guess I will just have to budget for this additional tax on forgetfulness (aka stupidity).
Reader Comments (3)
It appears that all eu countries are now cloning each other, ireland brings in a smoking ban and everyone copies it, england brings in congestion charges and ireland is threatening to copy it, something has to be done before even the consumption of alchol becomes a hanging offence. Between eu diktat and govt bullying our personal freedoms and privacy are rapidly disappearing, we are moving into an age where regulations are taking precedence over honor and morality. We have our own govts making rules for us and then we have another crowd over in brussel making rules for the combined govts, we're bogged downd in a load of regulation and bans while the important matters like our infrastructure, health service, immigration and law and order have taken a back seat and rapidly deteriated. Its funny how most of their regulations drag more money into govt coffers like having to pay massively for forgetfulness. In fact forgetfulness is a virtue in ireland our politicians use it for a defence all the time. But you now have a new lord mayor and hopefully he will understand that people can only take so much, also labour have got a right kick up the jacksie. As in ireland, with the deteriation and lack of communities it appears we are loosing our ability to stand together and rebel and I guess when europol gets started our goose will be truly cooked.
Yes, Ann, just two days to go now before the Irish referendum vote. Fingers heavily crossed that the Irish people will not be too brain washed by their government and EU pressure and will be able to vote No. The Irish government did indeed start the ball rolling by imposing the first EU smoking ban. All other Big Brother restrictive legislation stemmed from that.
As you say, our two islands are now the most heavily controlled in Europe and further restrictions are forced upon us daily. The governments no longer need to vote anything regarding smoking through parliament, They can now just add further restrictions to existing law. Local councils, too, are now empowered to write their own ticket regarding local punitive laws and fines. Just look at the law regarding wheely bins in some districts - if they can't be pulled by two fingers, they won't be emptied. It wasn't long ago that the weekly bin emptying was changed to fortnightly. People will now be fined for accumulating rubbish and not getting rid of it. All landfill sites are controlled by the EU and taxes for usage paid directly to them.
Manchester is due to introduce a congestion charge. All cities can follow suit.
Regarding the only Lisbon Treaty EU Referendum vote which has been allowed, it would be a miracle if the Irish people could fight through the lies they are being told and vote No.
The petition pleading with the Irish People to vote No on behalf of all of us has been signed by ordinary citisens of all 26 EU member states. Total signatures have now reached almost 20,000 - and still two more days to go.
http://www.irish-friends-vote-no-for-me.org/index.php?set_language=en&cccpage=home
The big question levied at us is why did the Irish people meekly accept the smoking ban? And why has England done so this past year? The answer is, as Simon says above, that we are law abiding citizens. We go along with any law that exists, including paying congestion charges. We do not wish to break the law. We do not wish to incur further fines and a criminal record.
The only way back to sanity for us is a change of government and getting right out from under complete EU political control. Gordon Brown is, at last, under heavy attack by the media but I expect that this is Tory led and Tory funded, [and backed by the EU]. Sadly, Cameron declared recently that when they are elected they too will not honour their promise of a Referendum. he said that by the Treaty will be ratified and it will be impossible to get out of it.
Only the fouth largest party, UKIP, would get us out of European political control, while continuing the present friendly trading relationships. There is a by-election coming up at Henley with a UKIP candidate but, sadly, the UKIP voice will not be heard through our controlled media. As always, it will be portrayed as a 3 horse race plus a morass of "fringe" candidates to cloud the issue for UKIP. The UKIP candidate came fourth in the recent Crewe by-election but, as always, no mention made by the media.
Fingers crossed for that tiny hope in Ireland on the 12th June.
I would add that the very first thing the UKIP mayoral candidate would have done, had he been elected, was to abolish the congestion charge. He pointed out that it has achieved virtually nothing apart from being an additional inconvenience and expense to motorists. Profits from it do not go to the greater good of London but to the private firm which administers it. No doubt this fact will be revealed now that Boris Johnson has instigated an audit. Or will it? What is sauce for the goose....?