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It is unjust
The congestion charge is an unfair tax. For the same reasons that the poll
tax was axed, the congestion charge must be scrapped. It is wrong that
a nurse has to pay the same as a millionaire.
Starting at £5, then increased by 60% to £8, and soon probably to £10 or
even more, the congestion charge is designed to price the cars of
"ordinary people" out of the centre of London. It creates virtual "no go" areas for the many,
who have just as much right or need to drive as those to whom the charge
is insignificant.
It costs more than £5.50 of every £8 to administer
Of the £5.50, nearly £5 goes straight to Capita (the private contractor)
to cover the costs of running the congestion charging
scheme.
Click here to see an extract from Transport for London's Statement of
Accounts 2006-07. Allowing for Transport for London's bureaucracy, less than £2.50
of the £8 charge is
available to improve public transport, a drop in the ocean compared to what is
required. (These figures include very significant income from the
draconian fines, if fines are
excluded, running costs take virtually all of the £8 charge!)Last year out of the £250m collected, only £90m was available for public transport,
about 2% of Transport for London's costs. But this is not the full
story...
Since its introduction only about £25m in TOTAL of new money
has actually been generated
Congestion charge finances constantly understate or forget the
capital costs associated with establishing the original scheme and its
extension.
In total £950m has been paid and £925m spent on running
and setting up costs. The £265m to implement the scheme is taxpayers money that
could have been spent on improving public transport. But it gets
worse....
If wider costs of
the scheme are considered, the congestion charge costs far more than it
raises
These costs start with
an annual loss of £15m in council parking revenue. Much
higher still are the losses from businesses with turnovers down between
10 to 30% inside the zone and some businesses shutting down completely.
On top is the opportunity cost of the millions of hours that people and
businesses have wasted paying the charge, disputing fines or driving
extra distances to avoid entering the zone.
It lacks consent
The vast majority of those who have been consulted want the charge to be scrapped,
and certainly not extended. Ken Livingstone has consistently ignored the
results of his own consultation exercises. Many in the surrounding areas have not even been
consulted.
It makes for "Big brother" style enforcement
The collection of enforcement cameras, detector vans and
uniformed operatives capturing your car registration number and monitoring
your travel is alien to the British tradition of freedom. The cameras are
never switched off - data is gathered even at night.
Our society is not a police state, but the infrastructure to
enforce the congestion charge is the thin edge of the wedge. For those who
forget to pay, the rules quickly enforce massive extra fines, punishment
totally out of proportion to the offence.
It penalises families who need larger vehicles
The proposed £25 charge for Band G vehicles hits those who have to drive a
larger vehicle. New rules on child seats mean that families often need
estate cars and people carriers to comply with the law and to protect
their children.
It also adds to the charge's long list of anomalies, e.g. a car carrying
4 people and emitting 240 g/km, an average of 60 g/km per person will be
charged £25, whereas a car emitting 120g/km and carrying 1 person will
be free.
We could have a 60 times greater impact on the environment if we just
spent the £6m start up costs on buying carbon credits rather than
introducing the £25 charge. |
