"I'm on the pavement, thinking about the government"

I've made a daft mistake with my car tax this year. The bill came early last month with the total for the whole twelve months being £125.

A few days after this (I'm not sure exactly how much earlier) came the Budget. How I laughed when I found out that my brother-in-law would be paying £300 this year and £400 next year to tax his (needless, for him anyway) Chelsea Tractor!

A few nights ago I logged onto the directgov website to pay my car tax, and found out that because I was paying it post-Budget it would now cost me £140. Very good. I wasn't happy, but figured that I probably deserved it for laughing at my brother-in-law.

Anyway, according to my calculations that's a 12% rise in car tax. I thought they were meant to be tackling gas guzzlers, not 1.2l family cars? As per usual I'll have to try and find that money from somewhere, but it is just another way to get money into the Government's coffers stealthily.

Here I should mention that I don't have an affiliation towards a political party. I remember the Conservatives consistently hiking up the price of petrol, bringing down student grants and other such measures which have made my life harder financially. All political parties do the same one way or another: give with one hand, try and take with the other when they think we're not paying attention.

What I don't understand is the way the media seem to have reported the 2p cut in the basic rate of tax. They all seem to be saying, "It's marvellous!" without any mention of the elimination of the starting 10p rate of tax. Once again, giving with one hand, taking with the other.

If I was really smart/ruthless I'd flee this country in a second, honestly. However it's where my life is, where my family is and where my home is. For the most part I like living here, I just wish it wasn't so expensive sometimes. I'm sure I'm just one of the many people Her Majesty's Government bank on thinking this way.