| Where
does your money go ? |
Every
year the motorist pays £31billion in car related taxes, of this only
£6billion is spent on roads
and
public transport, what happens to the other £25b.
Now John
Prescott intends to charge us for
traveling
into towns and to tax company parking spaces on top of the recent increase
in fuel and
road
taxes.. The extra money is to be spent on public transport ? Why not spend
the £25 billion
you
get already John ? Taxed for going to work what next taxing the air we
breath? It's time the
car
driver fought back. And with Oil prices at the lowest for 10 years
why are we paying 70p litre
for
petrol the most expensive in Europe? Did you know
80% of
the fuel price is tax. Why do we
allow
this to happen, would the French? If you want to stop this rip off
email
John Prescott now
and
be heard before it's to late.
 Cars
polluting less, so why the tax, asks AA |
New
research from the AA shows claims from environmentalists and government
that pollution
from
road transport is rising are untrue. The latest quarterly AA 'tailpipe
index' clearly indicates
that
the environmental impact of the car has been reduced, not by increased
taxes but by
improvements
in fuel and engine performance. Emissions of toxic pollutants from
the nations'
cars
have fallen to the lowest level since 1992, some by almost half. The amount
of non-toxic CO2 produced by cars – the major greenhouse gas – has remained
stable throughout the 1990s, despite Treasury claims in the last budget
that it is "fast growing". The alleged increases in spot generated
CO2
are the excuse the government uses to justify year-on-year fuel tax rises
of at least 6 per cent
over
the rate of inflation. Britain is the only country in Europe to have a
"fuel tax escalator", and
already
has the most expensive fuel. John Dawson, AA Policy Director, says: "It
is technology, and
not
tax, which has acted to reduce CO2 emissions and toxic pollution. The Treasury
tries to claim
that
increasing fuel duty is a sensible way of influencing CO2 emissions. This
policy is discredited,
and
hits people who can least afford it, such as those on lower incomes and
drivers in rural areas.
We
want a fair deal for motorists." And he challenged the the Government to
publish an independent analysis of whether it is technology or tax that
is delivering the reductions, and for them to explain
why
the taxation route is better for families and the economy. Cars are responsible
for 14 per cent
of
UK CO2 emissions, compared with 29 per cent from industry and 27 per cent
from homes, and independent research shows that in the next ten years CO2
targets will not be met due to increased
house
building. Cars will meet their CO2 targets as a result of new agreements
on fuel efficiency
between
manufacturers and the EU. "The work of those like the AA who have worked
at European
level
to enact regulations for safer, cleaner and more fuel efficient cars has
been vindicated". The
AA
believes the way forward is for international partnerships with the small
number of global manufacturers involved, so ever-demanding targets are
set for safer, cleaner and more efficient cars".
The
AA has been tracking various emissions from cars since 1997 on a quarterly
basis. Comparing
the
latest AA statistics with those from 1992 – the year of both the Rio Earth
Summit and the introduction
of
the catalytic converter. This shows that CO2 emissions from road transport
have remained broadly stable, despite increasing traffic growth. In addition,
toxic emission levels continue to fall. As a
percentage
of levels for the third quarter of 1992, the figures for the third quarter
of 1998 show
Volatile
Organic Compounds at 53% of their 1992 level; Nitrogen Oxide at 61%; CO
at 59%; PM10s
at
62%; and Benzene at 51%. PM10s ("particulate") are the pollutant of most
concern to air quality managers. |
Protest
direct to Rt Hon John Prescott
