Brits carry the brunt

Newswheel staff :: 26 September 2005 :: Filed under Europe & UK

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Bend over and get ready to take what’s coming to you

Here’s some news: motorists in the UK are getting shafted by the Government. OK, that’s not news, but a recent report by the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) does provide new details on precisely how Tony Blair and his chums are inserting the poles. Happy happy, joy joy!

While the ETA is all in favour of using tax to curb pollution and emissions, it questions the fairness of the current system. We’ll leave it to Andrew Davis of the ETA to explain why:

"As a green motoring organisation, we agree that citizens should be responsible for the effects they have on global warming. We question the validity of this tax, however, as it requires motorists to pay over £500 for each ton of CO2, whereas industry, commerce and households only pay £7 a ton.

Charging motorists 75 times as much as everyone else is wholly disproportionate. It is bad for motorists, our transport system and the environment. Everybody loses."

Quite.