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Question for Europeans



 
 
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  #41  
Old May 10th 05, 02:30 PM
L Sternn
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On Tue, 10 May 2005 02:28:17 -0500,
(Brent P) wrote:

>In article >, Magnulus wrote:
>
>> of us are like that. Small houses, OTOH, are harder to get. Housing prices
>> have shot up, and often developers seem to favor gargantuan houses in the
>> "better" neighborhoods. Sure, you can get smaller houses and apartments- if
>> you don't mind living a stones throw away from a drug dealer or gang member.

>
>If you want smaller you simply have to buy older properties. There are
>many good areas with smaller homes.


If they aren't already torn down and replaced with larger homes.

>


Ads
  #42  
Old May 10th 05, 03:12 PM
RichardS
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"Christian McArdle" > wrote in message
t...
> >> Because the prices are mostly tax, and this is largely set in absolute
> >> terms, rather than a percentage,

> >
> > Part of it is absolute, part of it is a percentage (VAT).

>
> Hence the word "largely" above. Only VAT on the non-duty part is variable.
> VAT on the duty itself is fixed, unless the rate of VAT or duty changes.
>



Stunning, isn't it - the concept of VAT on Duty!!!

I still scratch my head as to how they get away with that one... actually
no, I suppose that any discussion of tax other than headline rate income tax
is something that makes about 90% of the country glaze over & ignore.


--
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk


  #43  
Old May 10th 05, 03:20 PM
Brimstone
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Depresion wrote:
> "Brimstone" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Depresion wrote:
>>> "Larry Bud" > wrote in message
>>> ups.com...
>>>>
>>>> Magnulus wrote:
>>>>> I wonder how the European economy stayed afloat with all the taxes
>>>>> on petrol and diesel that they levy over there.
>>>>
>>>> Their infrastructure isn't as spread out as ours is. How many
>>>> Europeans commute an hour to work every day? In the US, it's
>>>> commonplace because there's so much land.
>>>
>>> It's not that uncommon in the UK but that's down to deliberate
>>> attempts to make commuting harder.

>>
>> Which is why many people choose to live increasing distances from
>> their workplaces, because commuting is more difficult than it used
>> to be.
>>
>> Contrary to popular mythology roads have been improved to allow
>> faster
>> speeds and railways are now carrying more people than ever before,
>> despite significant reductions in track mileage.
>>

>
> 3/4 or UK's local roads are deteriorating year on year. We are £8.3
> billon behind in road maintenance. By last year the plan was to have
> halted the deterioration but it hasn't happened and by 2010 we were
> to have caught up and removed the backlog unfortunately the first
> part was no where near achieved as about 50% of the money allocated
> for maintenance is being spent elsewhere on things like speed
> cushions, bus lanes, and what's laughably called our education system
> by local authorities. It's about time that money allocated by the
> national government for road maintenance is reserved only for use in
> actually maintaining roads.


I wasn't talking about maintenance, but then you were aware of that before
your petulant little rant weren't you?.


  #44  
Old May 10th 05, 03:22 PM
Brimstone
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Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> On Tue, 10 May 2005 08:34:35 GMT, "Brimstone" >
> wrote:
>
>>> Here in the US the top story recently has been the large upward
>>> spike
>>> in gasoline prices. Some have predicted that gasoline will top
>>> $5/gallon by next year, up from $2.50/gallon today. Since you folks
>>> in Europe have had $5/gallon gas for years (thanks to high taxes),
>>> what's happening to gas prices over there in Europe? Are they going
>>> to hit $10/gallon soon? Is the price of gas the top story on your
>>> local TV
>>> news?

>>
>> One point that seems to escape many Americans is that Europe is a
>> collection of seperate countries. We all therefore speak different
>> languages and have different ways of doing things, including levying
>> taxes.

>
> So how many European countries have gas prices as low as the United
> States of America? My impression was that high taxes on fuel were one
> common thread that pretty much united all of Western Europe.
>
> Am I wrong?


It's a while since I've bought fuel in mainland Europe but from the comments
of others it appears to be significantly cheaper than in the UK but nowhere
near as low as in the US.


  #45  
Old May 10th 05, 03:25 PM
Daniel J. Stern
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On Tue, 10 May 2005, Mark Hewitt wrote:

> > I'd be interested in how it compares if you factor in the average MPG
> > of cars on British roads with cars on US roads. I assume there is
> > evidence somewhere when the press always mentions US 'gas guzzlers'

>
> You just have to go to America and take a look for yourself! Here if you
> watch traffic going by, apart from 4x4's the biggest type of car you are
> likely to see is Ford Mondeo sized. In America that's pretty much the
> smallest size you are going to see! Just from the average size of the
> cars and that they mostly use automatic gearboxes it doesn't take a lot
> of working out that their MPG must be lower.


On-road-fleet MPG in the US, after rising through the '80s, has dropped
steadily for the last few years.

And, to anticipate and nuke the "Save gas or save yer ass!" jeremiad
somebody's bound to trot out, the UK's highway safety record is right near
the tippy-top of the worldwide list, both per vehicle-mile travelled and
per vehicle registered, while the US is 10th and 16th on the lists
(www.scienceservingsociety.com), respectively -- positions made even more
pathetic by all the chestpounding that goes on about how US safety
standards, different from those used by the whole rest of the civilized
world, as well as US cars and roads, are "the safest in the world".
  #46  
Old May 10th 05, 03:25 PM
Martin Brown
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Scott en Aztlán wrote:

> On Tue, 10 May 2005 08:34:35 GMT, "Brimstone" >
> wrote:
>
>
>>>Here in the US the top story recently has been the large upward spike
>>>in gasoline prices. Some have predicted that gasoline will top
>>>$5/gallon by next year, up from $2.50/gallon today. Since you folks in
>>>Europe have had $5/gallon gas for years (thanks to high taxes), what's
>>>happening to gas prices over there in Europe? Are they going to hit
>>>$10/gallon soon? Is the price of gas the top story on your local TV
>>>news?

>>
>>One point that seems to escape many Americans is that Europe is a collection
>>of seperate countries. We all therefore speak different languages and have
>>different ways of doing things, including levying taxes.

>
> So how many European countries have gas prices as low as the United
> States of America? My impression was that high taxes on fuel were one
> common thread that pretty much united all of Western Europe.
>
> Am I wrong?


They are all much higher than in the US. As is fuel in Japan.

But the exact price in Europe varies from country to country as does
preference for petrol/diesel/LPG. Belgium for instance is a diesel
country whereas France tends towards petrol/essence. UK is actually
headed towards diesel now due to changes in company car tax rules.

Price tends to reflect local preferences and as with cars fuel in the UK
is usually more expensive than it is on the continent. Much harder to
drive over the border to fill your car up when you live on an island.

Regards,
Martin Brown
  #47  
Old May 10th 05, 03:42 PM
Grant
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"Scott en Aztlán" wrote in message

>
> So how many European countries have gas prices as low as the United
> States of America? My impression was that high taxes on fuel were one
> common thread that pretty much united all of Western Europe.


http://www.theaa.com/onlinenews/alla.../April2005.doc

(*sigh* - it was previously HTML...)

Using 1GBP=1.88USD and US gallons, Unleaded ranges from $6.50 in Holland and
$6.05 in the UK down to $3.75 in Estonia.

The average for the 24 European countries listed is $5.20. The US is
reported as $1.93.


  #48  
Old May 10th 05, 03:51 PM
Mark Hewitt
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"RichardS" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Stunning, isn't it - the concept of VAT on Duty!!!
>
> I still scratch my head as to how they get away with that one... actually
> no, I suppose that any discussion of tax other than headline rate income
> tax
> is something that makes about 90% of the country glaze over & ignore.


Which is entirely the point. They know that everyone thinking of 'tax' as
being income tax, so they dare not touch that. Instead they make us pay tax
in other ways. Mostly grossly unfair ways like fuel tax.



  #49  
Old May 10th 05, 04:11 PM
Brimstone
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Mark Hewitt wrote:
> "RichardS" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>>
>> Stunning, isn't it - the concept of VAT on Duty!!!
>>
>> I still scratch my head as to how they get away with that one...
>> actually no, I suppose that any discussion of tax other than
>> headline rate income tax
>> is something that makes about 90% of the country glaze over & ignore.

>
> Which is entirely the point. They know that everyone thinking of
> 'tax' as being income tax, so they dare not touch that. Instead they
> make us pay tax in other ways. Mostly grossly unfair ways like fuel
> tax.


Surely the time to object was when the tax was first introduced. What was
the justification for it and what was the level of objection, other than
from the party in opposition at the time?


  #50  
Old May 10th 05, 04:29 PM
Mark Hewitt
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"Brimstone" > wrote in message
...
>
> Surely the time to object was when the tax was first introduced. What was
> the justification for it and what was the level of objection, other than
> from the party in opposition at the time?


My personal objection is not particuarly at the fact fuel tax exists, but at
the current levels it is applied at.

Not sure when fuel tax was introduced, however I believe it was before I was
born!



 




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