Green Tax - The latest hippy bandwagon

OOOH look - another incredible generation NuLabour policy.... 'We have a problem.... the solution is TAX'.

Tax keeps going up, people keep getting squeezed, the middle class keeps being eroded and turning this nation into a polarised set of 'haves' and 'have not' benefit cases .... but we still believe that tax is the answer to all our problems.

an ALTERNATIVE is the solution, or a policy, or a way of thinking that the nation can embrace - Not just another punishment on regular people trying to make a living.

People wouldnt need to drive cars or create loads of rubbish if policies we made at the top to encourage commerce and business to spread around the country, and there was a decent public transport infrastructure to support it all.

Likewise, if policies were in place to get rid of the problems with overproduction of refuse at the point of production (supermarkets and factories) then our bins wouldnt be overflowing with plastic and packaging that we dont need.

Tax aint the answer.


... I find it quite hilarious that the salvation of the planet is now the responsibility of the regular man on the street - despite the whole point of democracy being that we elect leaders to do it for us. Same goes with charity - Theres a huge sense of social responsibility placed on our shoulders to give money to africa or whatever, but at the same time our taxes are being spent to bomb iraqi's and afgans.

Total rubbish.

Im a stuck up aristocratic southerner apparently.

Curse me and my opinions eh

Responsibility is given to the common man when the government cant be bothered, or doesnt want to help.

Its suddenly taken back, when the government has an active interest in getting tax revenues in order to pay for wars or to create government non-jobs.

Sorry - very sceptical, but if our gracious leaders suddenly passed laws to encourage public transport use so that it made MORE sense to use than buying a car (making it cheap, safe and reliable - Japan for instance) ... Or restricted packaging on things ... The problem would be solved without the mess we have now.

As much as i have 'social responsibility' - I also have rent to pay, taxes to pay, a job to get to, and a life to lead. Im sick of being made to feel like anything Blair and Co cant be bothered to deal with themselves is suddenly my responsibility.

I'd say the whole diesil 'debacle' with tax is a perfect example of something which starts out as a sensible idea - then turned into another 'hey another tax opportunity' idea.

They kept the tax deliberately low on diesil as a way of encouraging people to switch to it - then removed the tax ceiling and now its more expensive than petrol.

The government isnt creating an environment where energy wasteage is frowned upon at all. They are doing NAFF ALL about it.

Blair is doing another Thatcher where he's using his final death throws in office to all of a sudden go on these meaningful crusades to change the world - where all they are boiling down to are just another policy of 'tax those who can pay, and then waste all the money' type affairs.

Of course i feel responsibility for things.

I feel responsible for my family, my friends, my house, the area i live in and my neighbours etc etc.

Dont get me wrong - my statement sounds a bit extreme but what its about is about the idea of electing a government or a council to supposedly pool our resources and efforts and channel them into meaningful causes.

I have a problem when say, my council decides that its going to treble parking permits for high emissions output cars in the name of the 'environment' when they KNOW that the average richmond resident who can afford a 40-60 grand land rover isnt going to get rid of it because their permit has increased in price. What they DO know though is that it adds to their revenues and allows them to spend more on jobs for the boys, and other waste of money enterprises.

Tax on refuse collection - its already farmed off to private companies to deal with anyways, who increasingly try to reduce the amount of times they actually come and take away your rubbish, or refuse to collect certain items. How is increasing the tax going to directly benefit people. And what about the stories of our 'recycled' waste being sent off to third world countries to be put in landfill sites because it costs twice as much to process than it is to just create things from scratch (no i dont agree with that - THATS the reason businesses do it).

Of course i care about my world, and i dont live my life in an intentionally wasteful manner. I live within the framework that my 'leaders' provide for me, but increasingly this is a framework that seeks to take more and more away from me - and offers nothing back in return. The benefit is not returned.

Yet - saving the planet is now MY responsibility and daring to wonder about the choices of the administration put in charge to govern this is somehow classed as if i suddenly DONT CARE.

No i dont think an attitude of leaving it to someone else to worry about is what will be the answer to all our problems - but i think the current attitude of allocating responsibility on the basis of whether or not the government can be bothered with the problem or issue in the first place leaves a bad taste in my mouth.