UK Taxation & Bus Passes

[Bill Stanier]

Actually, it now costs £30 for an annual Senior Citizen Railcard.

I buy a 3-year one. It's cheaper.

 

[Butts]

Err, have you ever been to Scotland? It's wet, it's cold, and it's dark most of the time! They even force bi-annual moving of the clocks on the rest of UK to try to eek out their meager daylight!

Us oldies like a bit of sunshine, and some warmth in our old bones!

Very true .....ho ho !!!

Actually the last week we've hardly had any rain and the thermometer has regularly hit over 20 degrees .....

 

[Oscar]

Yep, I said which financial year it referred to.

Do you think much has changed?

As a proportion of income poor people pay more. As an actual figure rich people pay more. Which definition of "paying more" you choose depends on your political persuasion. The Guardian choose the first definition, The Telegraph choose the second. It's always been the way.

This does suggest that if you took the poorest 10% or even 50% out of taxation all together and spread the tax amongst higher earners or clamped down on tax avoidance, the lower earners would have noticeably more money to spend while the impact on the higher earners would be minor. The lower earners are more likely to spend the money here and now if you're trying to promote economic growth a strategy going in this direction would seem more logical.
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The simple solution is free travel in local areas, half fare elsewhere.
That provides essential travel for those who need it and is a perk when you go elsewhere.

Don't worry though, nothing will change much for a few years, we've an election coming!

A solution of this kind would certainly be preferable to bus cuts. Or perhaps (say) a third could be paid and a third reimbursed. It's a shame that some bus companies only have a choice between classifying a service a tourist service and charging fares (with more income per fare but fewer people travelling) or taking ENCTS payments. Most don't even have that choice.

 

[dzug2]

Actually, it now costs £30 for an annual Senior Citizen Railcard.

There are - sometimes anyway - deals for buying it online
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The simple solution is free travel in local areas, half fare elsewhere.
That provides essential travel for those who need it and is a perk when you go elsewhere.

Solution?? Simple?? Well yes - mainly

But take a village near me - 5 miles from its nearest town. That town is in a different county. Nearest town in the 'right' county about 13 miles - or 20 miles by bus. Which do you get free travel to?

So it either gets complicated at the edges or isn't a solution

 

[ainsworth74]

Actually the last week we've hardly had any rain and the thermometer has regularly hit over 20 degrees .....

Has Salmond declared a state of emergency yet?

 

[Butts]

Has Salmond declared a state of emergency yet?

No, but I have - it's like being transported to The Middle East

 

[LBSCR Times]

According to Wikipedia:

Inverness: January average high 6.9 degrees Celsius. Annual rainfall 732.8 mm
Brighton: January average high 8 degrees Celsius. Annual rainfall 851 mm.

Selective data on Wikipedia....

The Met Office shows considerably different and the highest for the South East is over 200mm less than the lowest for the north of Scotland.
(And that is going back to 1910!).

There are statistics and staistics.....
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So it either gets complicated at the edges or isn't a solution

It always used to be any bus that went over the county boundary, then you could ride on that.
Hence, living in Tunbridge Wells, you could ride the 729 to Brighton,
or in Guildford you could take the 65 to Winchester.

Both deep in 'foreign' counties.