Cars are a fact of modern life, an essential if you are to have any form of life in our society. Gone are the days of whole families living only streets apart in the shadow of the factory they all worked in. The government destroyed that a long time ago and good riddance to it. Take a long hard look at how much work is within walking distance of your home and estimate what your wage packet will be when you work there. Your mobility gives you choice - the choice to find higher paying work,  the choice not to live in a slum, the choice to expand your activities beyond the boundaries of your local bus route.

Have no doubts. Successive British governments have increasingly taxed the motorist, using them to prop-up their failed policies. Now our latest government has declared open season on your pocket. It will find any way it can to raise cash from your motoring and will keep doing so until it kills the golden goose. The propaganda war is in full swing to persuade you that cars are a social evil and it's working. We motorists are blaming ourselves! We blame ourselves for queuing up on our crumbling, under-invested road infrastructure. We blame ourselves for polluting the world when in reality we are one of the minor problems. We are increasingly focused upon to divert attention from the real polluters.

Is Concorde catalysed? Do British Airways pay over 3 quid a gallon for aviation fuel?  No chance but who cares? Only the rich and powerful fly on Concorde and we don't want to take any of their hard earned, do we?!!

The rich and the privileged don't care how much motoring costs. Higher prices don't affect them adversely because their motoring is subsidised in one form or another, either as a direct perk or indirectly as a tax deduction. Higher motoring taxes for them means only quieter roads for their Rollers and government issue Jaguars to glide around on.

Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself. Have a look around for the well-hidden truths and see what you find.

We in Britain now have the second highest petrol prices in Europe.

We now have the most expensive diesel in Europe.

Yet we are one of the few European oil producers and you can bet your house on the probability that the country with higher pump prices has a higher per capita income than we do!

Notice the way that diesel, once the cheapest at the pump, is now more expensive than unleaded. The powers that be will tell you it's a *green* measure, designed to help the environment but don't be fooled, it's just a way to take more money out of you. As soon as the treasury recognised the growth of diesel (once unpopular in Britain), they decided to line their pockets with your cash. The treasury has no mandate to look after the environment, only to raise money by ever more stealthy methods from those who can least afford it.

Can you afford a large motor yacht? No, neither can I but if I could afford a floating palace, despite my obvious wealth and the boats' gas-guzzling environmental unfriendliness, I would be in a position to fill it up with cheap marine red diesel.

If taxation of fuel was in reality a *green* measure, then for the sake of all of us and the planet, any sane government would put the price up to ten or more pounds a gallon or introduce strict rationing or both. Doing this would, it is claimed, cure the world of a myriad of evils, but the revenue implications of doing so would be disastrous for the government. So which do you think they really care about, the environment or the revenue??

They claim there are more than 20 million cars on the road. Multiply that figure by your road tax, deduct investments in highways and see how much is left over to subsidise their fact-finding missions abroad and in the House of Commons bar.

We enjoy the highest vehicle prices in Europe and what will they do about this rip off? Nothing, not a sausage and why should they want to mess with this cosy little government sanctioned monopoly? After all, the car tax on a 15 grand car is somewhat higher than on a 10 grand one and the more money franchise dealers make the more tax they pay. They don't want you to have access to cheaper cars after all, it will just mean more of you working class oiks swanning about, blocking up their roads. You might even be able to afford a newer, more fuel efficient vehicle, use less fuel and pay less tax - now that just would not do, would it???

Seen your insurance bill go up again despite that clean license and years of a claim free record? First, they don't fund the police to crackdown on car crime and when the epidemic grows to the point that insurance policy totals around the country zoom, then the time arrives to tax the direct result of their inept policies. It may only be a small percentage but it will grow, mark my words.

Now they want us to directly cover hospital costs as well. We have been doing it by the backdoor for years; now we are going to pay twice (plus insurance premium tax of course!).

Once the technology works, to cover costs (very, very soon) you will be paying a road tax to drive into a town and another for motorways and some extra tax to park at city centre workplaces. This is all apart from the road tax you already pay!  There aren't going to be many of us who can avoid paying at least three if not four taxes - most of us will have to buy these "discs" just in case we need them. Which ever way it works, you can be sure nobody will pay less!  Parking tax may not affect me too directly, any extra costs will have to be covered by my employer or else I will simply move on to an employer who will cover it. Many of you won't be in the same lucky position, you and employers will be the losers along with the city centre shops that won't be getting any of my business. The big danger for many of course is extra costs for employers which they will recoup via efficiency gains (i.e. job losses). You may not even be the parking space user but you may still be the job loser.

Do you want me to put some figures on this?  Okay then, try these for size and then tell me I'm paranoid.

The London planning advisory committee suggest the following.

City Entry 2.50 stlg a day rising to 7.50 stlg

Do you really want to use public transport? It may be okay if you live in London but for the rest of us it's way too expensive, unreliable and slow. I've made use of Manchester's renowned Metrolink 8 times in the past year and 3 times it's left me standing on the platform. A trip which takes 25 mins on a good day by car and costs me half a gallon of fuel, takes me 2 hours by public transport and costs me 5 quid. It just isn't good enough and if you take away the motor car, competition then (as all monopolies do) will get more expensive and give a worse service as it racks up its profits. It's the way of the world and it ain't gonna change!!!