And people complain about the government in the US???
[quote]Residents of Croydon, south London, have been told that the microchips being inserted into their new wheely bins may well be adapted so that the council can judge whether they are producing too much rubbish.
If the technology suggests that they are, errant residents may be visited by officials bearing advice on how they might “manage their rubbish more effectively”.
While the move will be welcomed by environmentalists, it has sparked a row between the Labour-led council and Andrew Pelling, the Conservative who represents the area on the London assembly. He has tagged the microchips the “spy in your bin”.
Mr Pelling said: “The Stasi or the KGB could never have dreamed of getting a spying device in every household.” [/quote]
The fee is a yearly proprty tax which is called “Council tax”. My flat in West London cost me 1,000 pounds a year (NT$50,000) for such services as rubbish collection, street lighting and police/fire brigade assistance.
My flat is 30sqm. Not kidding! If you have a bigger property you pay more, the amount you pay depends on which “band” you are in. They do not charge for weight of rubbish removed, which unfortunately means we used to find sofas and other furniture stuffed into our communal bins!
1000 pounds/year does sound like a lot. I guess it is hard to compare between countries/cities, however, since in some cases those kind of fees are not broken out separately, but are simply included whatever other taxes you pay.
I suppose charging people by the amount of garbage they produce vs. charging some kind of flat fee (perhaps, as you menioned, based on square area of the property) is a trade off of “fairness” (those making more trash pay more) and simplicity/ease of administration.
The one solution that generally strikes me ill-conceived is this notion of having some agency monitor you and make sure you don’t “make too much rubbish.” It’s a little like the hairbrained water-rationing schemes they’ve got in certain parts of the US (where the price of water is kept articificially low by the government, and then they put some elaborate system in place to say how much you can use).
Beginning 2006 or 2008, I can’t remember, the UK government plans to introduce a policy which makes it mandatory for all cars to have installed a GPS system.
The owner of the car will be forced to pay for the equipment to be installed, which is about 120 pounds.
The GPS will need to be connected to the battery at all times and can only be disconnected during car maintenance times. If the battery is to be disconnected than the DVLA (car licencing agency) will need to be informed. If they are not informed for any reason then a fine will appear through the post.
If you do not pay to have the GPS tracking system put into your car, then it will be illegal to drive the car.
The Government claim that the GPS system will replace car tax and the system will calculate how many miles you have driven on which particular roads and a bill will arrive every month.
The Government also says that it is to prevent car theft by being able to locate cars easily, and to pin point you in case of an emercency.
They forgot to mention that it is also a form of following up on where you have been, where you are and what you are doing - something which they are already doing with the use of peoples private mobile phones.
[quote=“Dangermouse”]Beginning 2006 or 2008, I can’t remember, the UK government plans to introduce a policy which makes it mandatory for all cars to have installed a GPS system.
The owner of the car will be forced to pay for the equipment to be installed, which is about 120 pounds.
The GPS will need to be connected to the battery at all times and can only be disconnected during car maintenance times. If the battery is to be disconnected than the DVLA (car licencing agency) will need to be informed. If they are not informed for any reason then a fine will appear through the post.
If you do not pay to have the GPS tracking system put into your car, then it will be illegal to drive the car.
The Government claim that the GPS system will replace car tax and the system will calculate how many miles you have driven on which particular roads and a bill will arrive every month.
The Government also says that it is to prevent car theft by being able to locate cars easily, and to pin point you in case of an emercency.
They forgot to mention that it is also a form of following up on where you have been, where you are and what you are doing - something which they are already doing with the use of peoples private mobile phones.
Fly the red flag of comunis-- erm, Labour.[/quote]
