for the brits !

[GT40_GearHead]

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Continue funding for the Royal AIr Force Aerobatics Team - The Red Arrows

don't let this asshole push you around ! get it distribute as best you can

[sirkillalot617]

I hate tony blair at least he wont be prime minster for much longer. 17p per a litre of milk WTF Look how much it cost for a litre bottle at the supermarket

Farmer by the way

[Indybird]

I obviously live in the US, but those laws sound like major BS

[Airbozo]

I obviously live in the US, but those laws sound like major BS

Now you know one of the reasons the colonists left... Hehe JK.

I hate some of those laws too. I did not read all of them, but it sounds like the car tracking thing is just what they did in Singapore. To control traffic they installed the trackers on all cars authorized to enter Singapore. The closer you get to downtown, the more tolls they charge you.

For all the taxes you brits pay, they should be driving you around... Americans have it good. Can you imagine paying for your tv and then paying a yearly tax to watch it? (not including the cable bill) Do they charge you based on the size of the tv or just to connect it?

[luciusad2004]

How does the television tax work? I was under the impression that you payed the tax, but then you got great television service. You don't have to pay a any additional bills for cable service or anything do you?

[blue73]

Absolutley. All the TV licence is for in the UK is to pay for the BBC. After that anything we get via an arial is free. But if we want to get digital, obviously apart from Freeview we still need to subscribe to any of the BIG Crim Companys. It's a kind of extortion really. If you want a load of **** on yer telly box then it will cost you an installation fee and the cost of the box. If you want the same **** times 10 it will cost more. And if you want some of that **** in HD some of the time it will cost even more. It's always been that way in "Great Britain". We are constantly being F$%"KED bye our own Government. I still love my Country though...

[Airbozo]

Absolutley. All the TV licence is for in the UK is to pay for the BBC. After that anything we get via an arial is free. But if we want to get digital, obviously apart from Freeview we still need to subscribe to any of the BIG Crim Companys. It's a kind of extortion really. If you want a load of **** on yer telly box then it will cost you an installation fee and the cost of the box. If you want the same **** times 10 it will cost more. And if you want some of that **** in HD some of the time it will cost even more. It's always been that way in "Great Britain". We are constantly being F$%"KED bye our own Government. I still love my Country though...

Almost the same here minus the tax. _IF_ you can get the broadcast signal (HD or not), you can view it for free. If you want cable or dish, you pay the monthly fee. If you want digital cable(not including HD), you pay more. Digital HD more yet ($5). There is a consumer protection ruling that pretty much forces the cable company's to provide a basic connection at a "reasonable" price (whatever that may mean)(and don't get me started on the Public Utilities Commission).

Since the petrol in most of Europe is heavily taxed I wonder how they can get away with taxing again for the same reason?

BTW: If some of you non-brits have never had the pleasure of watching a Parliamentary session where they question the Prime Minister, you really should tune in. No "speeches" like the "State of the Union", no press agents, no scripts, just real political dialog with honest (as a politician can be) banter and real address of the issues. 90% of American politicians would be whimpering in the fetus position after a round of questions at The House Of Lords. It's not perfect and I am sure there is some preparation since everyone knows what the initial question will be.

[luciusad2004]

BTW: If some of you non-brits have never had the pleasure of watching a Parliamentary session where they question the Prime Minister, you really should tune in. No "speeches" like the "State of the Union", no press agents, no scripts, just real political dialog with honest (as a politician can be) banter and real address of the issues. 90% of American politicians would be whimpering in the fetus position after a round of questions at The House Of Lords. It's not perfect and I am sure there is some preparation since everyone knows what the initial question will be.

A political system were the issues get taken care of??? I didn't know such a thing existed. [/sarcasm]

On a side note. I loath politics. I've decided to not even register to vote simply because i cant tell what a politician really stands for anymore. I shouldn't have to spend hours upon hours of time researching every little detail of such and such political candidate just to cut through the crap and get to some honest facts. Its not worth going through that so i can cast my one meager vote and hope that i might have changed something. Maybe if we had some news channels that weren't completely biased i wouldn't have this problem.

I also have this problem were my political opinions are rather varied. It leads to the fact that i cant figure out what political party would be best for me.

Thanks for clearing up how the tv tax works for you guys over in Britain.

[klingelton]

in the uk, you need to pay for the TV license (tv tax) if you have anything connected to the wall that can receive a TV picture, even if you don't watch TV. If you don't have the BBC channels setup on you television, you still have to pay for them. if you only use your television for playing playstation, you need to still pay for a tv license. if you only watch videos... guess what... you need to pay. if you don't have a television, but a video recoreder plugged into the wall, you can apparently stilll receive a tv signal and therefore you must pay. the way round it is:- run your tv from a battery. they can't do squat!

An amusing circumstance happened at work along the same lines. My boss recently got a new phone where he was able to view sky sports as a streaming media. unplugged, he was using his phone legally. the second he plugged it in to charge it, it became illegal to watch. apparently the law covers all streaming media, which is kinda silly.

I worked out not too long ago that for the money i get paid. immediately 12% is taken away in income tax. £10 is taken away for car tax, plus an extra 5% for taxable insurance. national insurance contribution classes as a further 4(ish)% so i'm down £400 before i even get my pay check. then comes the petrol tax (we get taxed for owning a car and for running it) 60p per litre (i think 4 litres per gallon) in tax roughly. and on top of this one, they want to charge us by the mile. I also have the pleasure of living in london so i have the congestion charge to contend with, which if i went into central london in my car, would cost me an extra 7 quid a day (i think it is anyways). every item i buy which is classed as a luxury item, i.e. you don't need it to survive, i get charged 17.5% vat. i get charged on my rent. i get charged on my utility bills, telephone and internet, because apparently they're a luxury, non essential to survival (not sure about gas) because i live in london, i pay alot in council tax (each individual borough needs to get their hands on your money.) in the end, the government and its subsidaries (councils and shires) take roughly 60% of my hard earned cash, and then have the audacity to tax me on my savings, of which there is precious little because they took most of it off me before i could spend/save it.

So you toil your entire life paying vast sums of cash to a government that pisses it all up the wall paying for butlers and large cars, doing nothing with the money but funding health and safety lectures to people who would rather be working, putting up speed cameras in a blatent attempt to take more of your money by catching you speeding when you're 1mph over the speed limit, or you stop at a red light (yes there is a traffic camera that flashes when you stop at a red light near me!)

in my estimation, i spend 20% of what i earn on myself, everything else goes to the government.

in the uk, we are the one of the most heavily taxed nations. we are one of the poorest as a result in the western world (as a new study proved today)

and i do like the way the tv license is being described as a tax!

btw if you're wondering what classes as a luxury item, if you're female and it's that time of the month. sanitary towels or tampons are an essential item (according to the missus). not according to our government they're not, who charge for them as a luxury item.

thanks for letting me rant about this!

[DaveW]

The TV License is being dropped by 2008. Good riddance. The government is refusing to pay for the price of catching those who don't pay.

You think that's bad, i don't stop hearing from my girlfriend about this Animal Welfare act, which was opposed by Vets, Farmers, Animal rights activists-everyone who actually knows something about animals. It does things like prevent you docking an animal's tail, even though on many working dogs, having a long tail can lead to serious, life threatening injuries, not to mention diseases which live in the tail. I don't know the specifics, all i know is that my Girlfriend's pissed about it-and boy, do i know that.

-Dave