Scottish Bike Tax

DaveMoss

The Scottish Nationalist Party have suggested a road tax for bikes.. Our labour man says:-


I am writing to you to urge you to sign Scottish Labour’s petition against road tax for cyclists.

In a recent consultation document, the SNP asked ‘Should all road users pay road tax? If so, how much should it be for cyclists a nd how could it be enforced?’

This is a ridiculous suggestion. To meet our climate change targets, to improve health and, above all, to tackle congestion we need to persuade people out of their cars and onto bikes.

Introducing a bike tax would have the completely opposite effect. If the SNP government is serious about its commitments on climate change and making Scotland a healthier nation then how on earth does introducing a tax on cyclist help?

You can help by signing our petition at www.scottishlabour.org.uk/nobiketax.

You can also read the SNP’s proposal through the above link. I believe that we need to make Scotland a greener country and this means gettin g more people cycling to and from work, instead of travelling by car. A bike tax will encourage people to stay in their cars, sending completely the wrong message to those who may have been considering cycling to work by introducing a cash disincentive.

Please forward this email onto your friends and ask them to sign this petition also. Together, we can stop the SNP from taking this proposal any further and help make Scotland a healthier, greener nation.

Kind regards

Des McNulty
Labour's Transport and Climate Change spokesman





P.S. Once you have signed the petition, please ask your friends to have their say too. www.scottishlabour.org.uk/nobiketax.

aberdeen_lune

This doesnt make sense. Road tax for cars is based on CO2 emissions. The greener cars with low emissions get free road tax. If you wanted to charge road tax for bikes you would need to change the whole system. See extract below from the DVLA website. Has someone been pulling your chain or is the SNP goverment so badly advised that they dont understand the road tax system.

Petrol car (TC48) and diesel car (TC49)

Band
CO2 emission (g/km)
12 months rate
6 months rate

A
Up to 100
Not applicable
Not applicable

B
101-110
£35.00
Not applicable

C
111-120
£35.00
Not applicable

D
121-130
£120.00
£66.00

E
131-140
£120.00
£66.00

F
141-150
£125.00
£68.75

G
151-165
£150.00
£82.50

H
166-175
£175.00
£96.25

I
176-185
£175.00
£96.25

J
186-200
£215.00
£118.25

K*
201-225
£215.00
£118.25

L
226-255
£405.00
£222.75

M
Over 255
£405.00
£222.75

Crapaud

DaveMoss wrote:

The Scottish Nationalist Party have suggested a road tax for bikes. ...

No they haven't, it's a consultative document! Seethis threadhere.


Don't panic!!!

John.T

There is no such thing as 'Road Tax'. It was abolished years ago. Car owners pay 'Vehicle Exise Duty'. A polite way of screwing money out of us that will be spent in any way the Government sees fit. Very little goes on roads. Remember this next time some plonker tries to say you don't pay RT. Neither does he.

DaveMoss

Crapaud wrote:

DaveMoss wrote:

The Scottish Nationalist Party have suggested a road tax for bikes. ...

No they haven't, it's a consultative document! Seethis threadhere.


Don't panic!!!

But they asked the question!! Someone in the Scottish government is daft enough to ask this question. That is cause for panic.
But watch out for the librals, they would put a tax on owning an expensive bike. Not as in extra VAT, but an annual charge just for owning it.( they are starting with £1 million bike sheds, but for sure they would move on to Cevelos and Colnagos next )

thebongolian

They can ask but at the moment the Scottish Government doesn't actually have power to charge such a tax - and I suspect the Westminster Government would be very wary about handing such powers over.

Jay dubbleU

I suspect this is politicians trying to score points off each other :x

Aulyin

At least the question is being asked.
"Cycling Scotland's view is cyclists should not be taxed, but it is important to ask the question."
I agree with that. The question has been both asked and answered. Move on.

On many of our roads cyclists take their lives in their hands as numerous lorries seem to try and blow them off the black stuff. One example; on the A76 between New Cumnock and Cumnock, local riders use the very good tarmacadam footpath next to it because it's safer but the path comes to an abrupt end a mile and a half outside Cumnock and cyclists, pedestrians, dog-walkers, joggers, power-walkers, pram-pushers, etc all have to use the road along with these tons of thundering steel. So should we tax all of them or sort out safety issues on our roads?

Encourage cyclists to use the countryside and
Encourage train and bus services to provide and promote cycling carriage to get them there.

Cheers, Aulyin

amaferanga

I'd happily pay some kind of cycle tax if it meant roads were designed FOR cyclists and there was a UK wide network of these roads soley for use by cyclists.

There isn't though.