Comment Re:Annoying but actually reasonable (Score 1) 117
In the UK, MOT inspectors already make an official recording of the vehicle mileage when they do their annual inspection
In the UK, MOT inspectors already make an official recording of the vehicle mileage when they do their annual inspection
Remember that in the UK, max speed for an HGV is 60 on a motorway, and 45min rest breaks are required every 4.5hours, ie max driving between rest breaks is 270 miles (not happening on UK roads, you’ll definitely encounter traffic / roadworks and have to slow down before then). So an EV truck that can recharge a couple of hundred miles in 45 minutes can essentially go for as long as the driver here. Something like this:
https://www.volvotrucks.com/en...
The thing is, the tax needs to be designed to work for the next decade at least, though. And over that time, an increasing proportion will be.
I guess that most drivers at least start out with the VED and MOT dates being roughly around the same — MOT first, then VED reasonably soon afterwards, so I suppose that works. Get your actual at MOT and then do the reconciliation and next year forecast at VED renewal. I guess this is some of the detail we’ll get in the future.
The UK private school sector has stayed stable at between 6 and 7% of pupils for literal decades, through endless policy changes. In London, it has become very expensive, but then London attracts a lot of extraordinary wealth, and schools charge what the market will bear. I say this with some knowledge as I had one kid at one expensive North London private school, and other has just switched from a GDST that was a bit cheaper to a different one for sixth form that is eye-watering.
Fees aren’t driven by taxation, they’re driven by the fact that in London, it’s not GPs and solicitors sending their kids to private school, it’s three tiers of ascending wealth:
1. At the bottom, partners in big professional services firms eg PwC or Linklaters, successful business execs in big corporations, etc. They earn 400k+ a year, live in houses worth 1.5 to 5m
2. Next, the finance folks — hedge fundies, i-bankers, and the bottom end of the PE tier. They’re on 1m+ a year, live in houses worth 4 to 10m
3. At the top, the mega wealthy — owners of medium size businesses and upwards, the top of the PE tier, live across multiple homes worth tens of millions, etc.
Obviously, this is a simplification (where do the slebs and artists fit?), but it’s fairly accurate.
Btw, curious they are still calling themselves Defense contractors, Trump prefers War contractors
Traditionalists prefer "War Profiteers".
The numbers of people who drive that kind of distance from the UK are absolutely miniscule. I doubt it’s even 1 in 1000 Brits who arrive in Marbella in their car rather than a plane. Somewhat different for France, but still, the alternative there is the train, not the plane, for many.
They should put a coin slot on every M16 so soldiers can put a quarter in every time they pull the trigger.
...and sell them a tool to remove jammed quarters.
I think it’s a mistake to think that this tax is designed to tax only miles on UK public roads. It’s not a hypothecated tax, after all.
No, I think it’s significant for hauliers as a sector, especially because you have to consider the policy / competition effects of a charge on UK hauliers that affects them both at home and abroad but doesn’t affect non-UK hauliers on UK roads. I think there’ll be a way through but not that simple.
According to Google, Starliner is a fixed-price contract, so (in theory) they should only get paid for meeting milestones. There's no extra profit to Boeing in dragging this out (again, in theory).
I wonder if they're pulling resources from this to more profitable programs (which are also probably overdue).
Heh. Reminds me of when I inherited my parent's late-sixties Olds 98. Helluva tank to drive around in the nineties, until SUVs took over. It was just old and beat up enough that I found other drivers remarkably polite.
Exempt for the time being. So they’ve got some leeway to try to think of a system that doesn’t penalise UK hauliers while boosting overseas hauliers. Good luck to them with that! I don’t think ti’s going to be straightforward. Maybe they will need to start checking truck mileage at ports, including for foreign vehicles.
No worries! Yes, we in the UK have annual inspections. And the driving test is quite hard, too.
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