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[Lizzie Zoom]

For anyone interested, take a read about the Rebecca Riots in Wales. In particular the last paragraph of the "History" section.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Riots

Yes, but those days were vastly different.  Only the wealthy and lorded had a right to vote; most had few rights, and Revolution was rightly in the air.  The Chartists rose up to challenge many aspects of 19th century life, and although largely unsuccessful in a direct sense, they caused ripples that grew into waves that changed our British rights forever, and for the better.  No body or trust could get away now with grossly overcharging for tolls, as regulatory bodies, let alone public opinion with their votes, would stamp down on their practices.

It goes back to the fact that it costs money to build structures we all want for our cars, just like it costs money to buy the fuel to run our vehicles, along with the costs of keeping them roadworthy. The hard fact is we cannot expect other people to pay for them

[Rods2]

Remember the promise to make the Dartford crossing free once the bridge was paid for ?
nIt was obvious that was never going to happen as there's no way of avoiding the crossing, so the first thing they did was to put the price up.

So treat it as a typical election promise: we'd like to do it, but the devil will skate to work before we manage to do it.

We do indeed. But, in fairness the bridge came after one tunnel and now we need a third crossing, which will be a tunnel near Gravesend.  With money for this having to come from somewhere, and the Government struggling to find enough cash for everything, I support the crossing charge.  I would sooner the motorist, like me, pay to cross the Thames to support extra infrastructure than take the money away from education, NHS and security.

For the gain of crossing the Thames to the East of London quickly, rather than take the M25 clockwise from Kent the long way round to go north, £3, £5, or even £10 is worth it. The saving in fuel costs make it the financially right thing to do.

Same with the Severn crossings; no sensible motorist on business would go to Newport from Bristol via Gloucester; the toll was always the acceptable option.

I don't think most people complain too much at the money being spent here but with better organisation, they could be run more efficiently. The problems are since 1991 and especially 1997 where government spending has rocketed with NI, VAT, IPT, CGT, Stamp duty, fuel duty, beer tax, VED, new car tax all rising substantially and above inflation rises for government fees. But this is still not enough for spendaholic politicians, there has been a massive rise (IMO criminal) in excessive borrowing which is just deferred tax, which we have to pay along with the interest in the future. This means the tax burden has grown from 33% of GDP to 43% or ~25% rise in just over 25 years. Government spending is about £760bn a year so this represents about a £180bn (£180,000,000,000) rise per year, over the staying at 33% of GDP. Much of this increased spending has been vanity spending, at a vast cost to us, but of a vast benefit to the politicians and their crony capitalist friends. Two that particularly annoy me are 2% of tax wasted on overseas aid, they can't shovel the £13bn per year away to tyrants and down the drain fast enough and the second which is rising rapidly and will reach £17bn per year by 2020 is the subsidising of climate change fraud. Collectively they add up to the spanking away of £30bn, which is an extra tax burden of £1000 per year for every single one of the 30m employed in the UK. Most people including me could put this saved tax to much better personal use.

[Doctor Gollum]

Indeed. £1,000 buys a reasonable amount of beer/fans/petrol*...

*delete as applicable.

[STEMO]

Remember the promise to make the Dartford crossing free once the bridge was paid for ?
nIt was obvious that was never going to happen as there's no way of avoiding the crossing, so the first thing they did was to put the price up.

So treat it as a typical election promise: we'd like to do it, but the devil will skate to work before we manage to do it.

We do indeed. But, in fairness the bridge came after one tunnel and now we need a third crossing, which will be a tunnel near Gravesend.  With money for this having to come from somewhere, and the Government struggling to find enough cash for everything, I support the crossing charge.  I would sooner the motorist, like me, pay to cross the Thames to support extra infrastructure than take the money away from education, NHS and security.

For the gain of crossing the Thames to the East of London quickly, rather than take the M25 clockwise from Kent the long way round to go north, £3, £5, or even £10 is worth it. The saving in fuel costs make it the financially right thing to do.

Same with the Severn crossings; no sensible motorist on business would go to Newport from Bristol via Gloucester; the toll was always the acceptable option.

I don't think most people complain too much at the money being spent here but with better organisation, they could be run more efficiently. The problems are since 1991 and especially 1997 where government spending has rocketed with NI, VAT, IPT, CGT, Stamp duty, fuel duty, beer tax, VED, new car tax all rising substantially and above inflation rises for government fees. But this is still not enough for spendaholic politicians, there has been a massive rise (IMO criminal) in excessive borrowing which is just deferred tax, which we have to pay along with the interest in the future. This means the tax burden has grown from 33% of GDP to 43% or ~25% rise in just over 25 years. Government spending is about £760bn a year so this represents about a £180bn (£180,000,000,000) rise per year, over the staying at 33% of GDP. Much of this increased spending has been vanity spending, at a vast cost to us, but of a vast benefit to the politicians and their crony capitalist friends. Two that particularly annoy me are 2% of tax wasted on overseas aid, they can't shovel the £13bn per year away to tyrants and down the drain fast enough and the second which is rising rapidly and will reach £17bn per year by 2020 is the subsidising of climate change fraud. Collectively they add up to the spanking away of £30bn, which is an extra tax burden of £1000 per year for every single one of the 30m employed in the UK. Most people including me could put this saved tax to much better personal use.

I think it's more like 40 million employed.

[Rods2]

Remember the promise to make the Dartford crossing free once the bridge was paid for ?
nIt was obvious that was never going to happen as there's no way of avoiding the crossing, so the first thing they did was to put the price up.

So treat it as a typical election promise: we'd like to do it, but the devil will skate to work before we manage to do it.

We do indeed. But, in fairness the bridge came after one tunnel and now we need a third crossing, which will be a tunnel near Gravesend.  With money for this having to come from somewhere, and the Government struggling to find enough cash for everything, I support the crossing charge.  I would sooner the motorist, like me, pay to cross the Thames to support extra infrastructure than take the money away from education, NHS and security.

For the gain of crossing the Thames to the East of London quickly, rather than take the M25 clockwise from Kent the long way round to go north, £3, £5, or even £10 is worth it. The saving in fuel costs make it the financially right thing to do.

Same with the Severn crossings; no sensible motorist on business would go to Newport from Bristol via Gloucester; the toll was always the acceptable option.

I don't think most people complain too much at the money being spent here but with better organisation, they could be run more efficiently. The problems are since 1991 and especially 1997 where government spending has rocketed with NI, VAT, IPT, CGT, Stamp duty, fuel duty, beer tax, VED, new car tax all rising substantially and above inflation rises for government fees. But this is still not enough for spendaholic politicians, there has been a massive rise (IMO criminal) in excessive borrowing which is just deferred tax, which we have to pay along with the interest in the future. This means the tax burden has grown from 33% of GDP to 43% or ~25% rise in just over 25 years. Government spending is about £760bn a year so this represents about a £180bn (£180,000,000,000) rise per year, over the staying at 33% of GDP. Much of this increased spending has been vanity spending, at a vast cost to us, but of a vast benefit to the politicians and their crony capitalist friends. Two that particularly annoy me are 2% of tax wasted on overseas aid, they can't shovel the £13bn per year away to tyrants and down the drain fast enough and the second which is rising rapidly and will reach £17bn per year by 2020 is the subsidising of climate change fraud. Collectively they add up to the spanking away of £30bn, which is an extra tax burden of £1000 per year for every single one of the 30m employed in the UK. Most people including me could put this saved tax to much better personal use.

I think it's more like 40 million employed.

You are probably right on the unofficial number by the number of green coloured car drivers who own a whippet , but the May 2017 Government ONS statistics show 31.95m

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/may2017