How to tax cyclists...

W1

CiB wrote:

dilemna wrote:

I thought cyclists do pay tax? There is VAT on bikes, components and accessories unless you do C2W which gives tax relief. That letter is simply ballcocks. It must be from an aspiring MP or care in the community patient.

Didn't you know? If you write to HMRC with a picture of your bike you're taken off the PAYE list and they issue a plastic card that you present when making any purchases (including fuel for the car that you don't use as much due to the bike), and VAT plus any other duty is discarded from the purchase price. It's great. You must know about it; everyone who adds their insightful comments to newspaper filler stories seems to know about it.

I sent two pictures in and now make a profit with my buying prowess.

Pah, that makes you a tax avoider you know. I bet you stamp on polar bear cubs too.

Simon the Pieman

If we pay road tax then we should get at least one lane of all motorways turned into lovely cycle lanes.

SmellTheGlove

Bikes are ZEV of course, but to be legal, a motorised ZEV has to have MOT and insurance.
All I'm saying is, we need a non-fatally-flawed argument e.g. it's a feckin bike, and anyone who wants to join in the fun is welcome.
:twisted:

Blue Meanie

Eh? But I pay 'Road Tax' on my car - I just choose to cycle to work/

SmellTheGlove

Not trolling Meanie, but however many vehicles you or I own, they all have to be legal. I can't reasonably claim "my first vehicle's a bike, so there's no need for my car to have all its legals".

Blue Meanie

SmellTheGlove wrote:

Not trolling Meanie, but however many vehicles you or I own, they all have to be legal. I can't reasonably claim "my first vehicle's a bike, so there's no need for my car to have all its legals".

Indeed, and yet there's a VED disc in my '2nd' vehicle's windscreen, so I am actually paying 'Road Tax'.
All my vehicles are legal, apart from the track bike which doesn't venture onto public roads.
I also benefit from 'liabilty ins' being a member of my local Road Club when cycling on the road.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15892074

hstiles

That's a stupid approach - it's far too easy to forget your high-viz jacket. A far better idea would be to tattoo a personal identification number and barcode on your forehead when you buy your first proper bike. The guys in Halfords or Evans would just need a Stanley knife, fag lighter and Sharpie and you'd be road legal in under 30 minutes.

Also, the rozzers wouldn't even need to pull you over to check your papers. They could sit in their cars with a barcode scanner and grab your details as you pass

jackthelad

They can tax anything nowadays, even televisions,so dont be under the impression it can't happen

bails87

My bikes are all under 3 years old, so if they were cars they wouldn't need an MOT

shouldbeinbed

I've entertained myself recently highlighting the zero emissions thing, asking the age limit people would go down to and then asked which hospitals & schools they'd pick to close to pay for all of the extra DVLA staff to post out a letter asking millions of bike owners to pay nothing then maintaining the website that lets them pay nothing online and posting out millions of tax discs that cost money to print.

daviesee

bails87 wrote:

My bikes are all under 3 years old, so if they were cars they wouldn't need an MOT

I give my bike the equivalent of an MOT on a weekly basis. It is better looked after than my car.

meanredspider

shouldbeinbed wrote:

I've entertained myself recently highlighting the zero emissions thing, asking the age limit people would go down to and then asked which hospitals & schools they'd pick to close to pay for all of the extra DVLA staff to post out a letter asking millions of bike owners to pay nothing then maintaining the website that lets them pay nothing online and posting out millions of tax discs that cost money to print.

It's one of the tax highlights of my year is going on-line to tax my 1969 Alfa (road-legal) race car - paying nothing and having a tax disc turn up 3 days later.

I quite like the "taxing bikes" argument - it helps you pick out the idiots

DrLex

meanredspider wrote:

It's one of the tax highlights of my year is going on-line to tax my 1969 Alfa (road-legal) race car - paying nothing and having a tax disc turn up 3 days later.

I quite like the "taxing bikes" argument - it helps you pick out the idiots

Likewise with my Series II Land Rover. It does sit in the field for 360 days a year, so not quite the daily driver.

Anyone have a link to studies on what percentage of bike owners (aged 21-70, say) in the U.K. are also car owners or have a car-owning partner? Can't see it being less than 90%.

Drysuitdiver

DrLex wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

It's one of the tax highlights of my year is going on-line to tax my 1969 Alfa (road-legal) race car - paying nothing and having a tax disc turn up 3 days later.

I quite like the "taxing bikes" argument - it helps you pick out the idiots

Likewise with my Series II Land Rover. It does sit in the field for 360 days a year, so not quite the daily driver.

Anyone have a link to studies on what percentage of bike owners (aged 21-70, say) in the U.K. are also car owners or have a car-owning partner? Can't see it being less than 90%.

thats because its a Landrover and it can't get out of the field as for the 2nd bit we have 2 cars in the household. 1 sits outside the house costing a fortune in tax and insurance ( not to mention servicing costs) for 5 days out of 7 but is desperatley needed for the 2 days it is used. the other beater gets abused on a daily basis by wifey.
maybe they could just print out the discs and send them out with the vehicles discs. would save postage

DrLex

Ha! More due to the highway not needing harrowing, topping & rolling...
Does need to venture out to the petrol station occasionally and terrorise the locals with vague steering and even worse braking. Local M.O.T. guy is very generous with his passes; almost SORN-time.