Tuesday 1 May 2007

I Am Mr Angry To My Politicians!

I don't currently have a car. I have my little Vmoto 50cc scooter and use that as sparingly as possible. Now - even on something as tiny as this scooter, I pay a registration fee. Part of that fee goes to the Police department for tracking the vehicle and paperwork, part goes to them for policing the roads to make it safe for me to ride. (Which doesn't happen but you've probably read one of my "all drivers are dickheads" articles)

Part of that whacking great fee (did you know that motorcycle and scooter riders pay relatively more per wheel per cc than car drivers? A LOT more?) goes to road maintenance. I've always thought that the petrol excise pays the rest of the road maintenance bill, but I'm wrong.

Tonight I received a phone survey on this topic. Cars, environment, roads, safety. Have your say, yada yada yada. In among all the questions and statements, I discovered this little gem:

38c/litre is the Government's excise on petrol. Each time you fill up the average car, you're putting $19(!!!) into Government coffers. And do you know how much of that twenty bill finishes up paying for road maintenance? Try $4. Yep, 8c/litre of the excise is spent on roadwork.

Kind of puts it into perspective doesn't it? Each time you fill your tank Mr Howard laughs at you, and buys two more supersized McDonalds meals so he can be more like his American heroes.

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