AIBU to question people claiming they would happily pay more tax?

Electronic road pricing is a good idea

The 'Government' does not build any roads. They are built by civil engineering Companies so the Government tenders the work but they are built by people that know what they are doing others. I mean, God help us all if the public sector actually had any hand in the actual construction ....

Motorways are something that can work alright as toll roads (but incredibly annoying for motorists) but if we're not paying taxes for roads we would need all roads to be paid for by private developers, including the ones that are used very little. Unless we'd be happy with people in more rural areas being cut off. Those lesser used roads aren't going to be bringing in much money at all, certainly not a profit, so either fees will have to be higher elsewhere to offset the cost or they just won't be built and maintained.

Private financing and private capital. Do you not think private infrastructure projects happen or are possible? We didn't need the government to make cars. Why is a road all that difficult?

The motorways in France seem to work pretty well being run by private companies.

having seen the costings on public projects I wouldn’t assume it is actually much cheaper than a private company would charge tbh

another example is getting a company to pay for infrastructure upgrades around. Ew developments - like the Warner brother theme park

but obviously oversight and big picture planning needs to be done centrally but it is very simplistic to assume the public sector can provide things cheaper and more efficiently than the private

Why would they? They would only ever do it if they could make a profit out of it, which means you'd end up paying more to drive on it than your taxes that go towards constructing and maintaining it, as the government isn't trying to make a profit. Imagine having to pay a toll on every road you drive on, cameras logging your car as it turns each corner, totting up the bill that comes to you each week. You drive down a road after heavy rain and a pothole appears, the cameras log you as the last car to drive over it before the hole appeared so you get sent a bill for repairs, because why would a profit-minded private developer want to use their own money to maintain something that can be blamed on a user?

Because it wouldn’t be enough to make any difference. It’s been spelt out for you enough times.

We already pay enough. Like I said before, anyone who feels people aren’t paying enough is free to contribute extra. But of course they won’t

Thin air apparently.

Only if they know the council planning and infrastructure and reasons why that particular road needs to be built. So why pay them more rather than do it in house.

Are you saying private companies should just decide to build a road?

Out of the blue?

Where would they get the money from? The average construction cost of a road is around £40 million per mile. Who would ensure the roads join up? That they’re maintained?

Do you not think a private developer can do it? At all?

You really don’t understand a thing about politics, government, taxation or the economy, do you?

Anyone can pay as much tax as they want to. Nothing to stop them. Just don't expect everyone to feel the same way about paying tax.

Agree. It could be headed up by one of the keen celebs. And others that are similar.

Thank you!

I partly agree. The three biggies stopping growth in the UK are the:

1. the cost of construction (mainly down to the endless regulation),
2. the cost of energy;
3. the cost of employing people, both tax and NMW. NMW in the UK is an OECD outlier. We need to pay people enough to live but how about we address the costs of living by addressing 1 and 2 above instead of constantly increasing NMW. Build more houses and reduce the cost of energy.

I’m happy to pay my fair share. Some people not paying anything but taking everything is annoying as are those who earn £££ and pay minimal amounts.

There are a lot of left leaning people in the country. Why don't they all pay more? That will make a real difference and prevent resentment building from those that don't want to pay more tax. It could be a group movement. What is wrong with that? The alternative is you alienate the majority of voters by forcing them to pay tax increases they don't support. They will then vote in a more right wing government and the left will be even further away from achieving what they want.

One person paying more won't make a difference but the majority of earning adults paying a little bit more will make a massive difference. That's the whole point of taxation. We all contribute towards the common good for things that we wouldn't be able to afford or couldn't organise individually. Yes, people can make individual contributions but unless the majority of people do this it will not make a difference. I don't understand what you are confused about.

Oh well he deserves to be tortured to death then. 😱

How would the roads we need get built then?

All these things don't need a government do they?

Especially roads come on. We pay so much tax and have a shit NHS. If we had lower tax rates we'd have a stronger economy with growth

It kinda isn’t. How else do you pay for roads, healthcare and education?

I actually did some investigation of the Ryan Pepper case. He's a cybercriminal