• Replies 31 replies
  • Subscribers 35 subscribers
  • Views 811 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Driving plans for pay-per-mile tax and the implications

Iain

Trigger warning - there is some discussion of authoritatian government below so if this is triggering for you, please look away.

I've been following some of the governments discussions on changing the road tax model to become a pay-per-mile scheme and a few things have given me pause for thought.

Legislation for this seems to be currently under development from recent news reports due to the governments inability to balance the budget.

To comply with this legislation, all cars will have to be fitted with a telemetry device to track the vehicle. It seems a logical requirement but as it is now going to be effectively tracking you in real time, most likely recording every trafic law violation and will be a great tool for the government to issue a massive number of traffic offence tickets to generate income.

Of course this will improve safety too so not necessarily a bad thing.

I'm pretty sure the control box will need to be government approved, fitted by government licensed installers and have the software that cannot be tampered with. A few more opportunities for subcontractors with politicians on their board of directors.

My suspicion is that this same box will be able to proximity sense other mobile devices and be used to track individuals through this as well, so when it comes time to arrest you for posting on social media about something the goverment isn't happy about then the police know where to get you.

Is the timing of the government digital ID introduction a co-incidence? Think about what the government will be able to do at this point. They can track you though your mobile phone, if you are driving they know everywhere you go and if you break any laws, they know how much you earn, from who and can track all transactions in your bank / Paypal / Venmo accounts etc.

Of course the arguement is that is you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide.

The plan of a surveillance state then takes a huge leap foward and gives so much more power to the government to squeeze money out of you while controlling you.

Am I way off the mark here? Is the government really as nice as they claimed to be when getting you to vote for them? Do you still trust them?

Parents

  • They can already track you from your phone. Newer cars have a phone and tracking as well, it's for the sat nav and emergency calls. There are anpr cameras all over the place.

    This is for money. They make billions a month from fuel taxes.

    Only around 10% of vehicle taxes are spent on roads, money from vehicle tax, vat on sales fuel duty, insurance tax, fines. The rest goes in the pot to pay for schools, hospitals, benefits, etc.

    The move to move economical cars, EVs and working from home means they don't have the money any more.

    The need billions from transport. You going to work is a cash cow.

    A way to get money is charge per mile. It has privacy concerns. It has been suggested that data is aggregated, but to price you need journey data. Someone will have access to it. The temptation to look at it for other purposes will be too high.

    It allows variable pricing based on time, so easy congestion charging everywhere. They say you won't pay more but you will, and it will go up every year. They can also charge more for some types of vehicle.

    They said there would be some allowance for rural people. But government don't in general understand or care about the country. They are city types 

    The real issue is whether they drop the other taxes. It was the original idea, but I think they may now want this in addition. It is hugely unpopular, but I'm not sure that is enough, the government don't like private transport 

    The head of Volvo, I think, said around 2010 iirc, that if cars were invented today the government would ban them.

    They want you to use public transport. It is social engineering.

    Road pricing  has been talked about for 15 years, I am not sure it is imminent. But tax rises in November are coming for sure.

Reply

  • They can already track you from your phone. Newer cars have a phone and tracking as well, it's for the sat nav and emergency calls. There are anpr cameras all over the place.

    This is for money. They make billions a month from fuel taxes.

    Only around 10% of vehicle taxes are spent on roads, money from vehicle tax, vat on sales fuel duty, insurance tax, fines. The rest goes in the pot to pay for schools, hospitals, benefits, etc.

    The move to move economical cars, EVs and working from home means they don't have the money any more.

    The need billions from transport. You going to work is a cash cow.

    A way to get money is charge per mile. It has privacy concerns. It has been suggested that data is aggregated, but to price you need journey data. Someone will have access to it. The temptation to look at it for other purposes will be too high.

    It allows variable pricing based on time, so easy congestion charging everywhere. They say you won't pay more but you will, and it will go up every year. They can also charge more for some types of vehicle.

    They said there would be some allowance for rural people. But government don't in general understand or care about the country. They are city types 

    The real issue is whether they drop the other taxes. It was the original idea, but I think they may now want this in addition. It is hugely unpopular, but I'm not sure that is enough, the government don't like private transport 

    The head of Volvo, I think, said around 2010 iirc, that if cars were invented today the government would ban them.

    They want you to use public transport. It is social engineering.

    Road pricing  has been talked about for 15 years, I am not sure it is imminent. But tax rises in November are coming for sure.

Children