Stephen Hawking attacks new EU tax on mobility scooters
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Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:05:45 GMT |
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London - Wheelchair-bound British physicist Stephen Hawking has condemned plans by the European Union (EU) to impose an import tax on mobile scooters by classifying them in the same category as Formula 1 racing cars. "For many of us with disabilities, a mobility scooter is literally a lifeline - without it we are locked out further from the world around us. To tax the most disadvantaged in society in this way is simply disgraceful," Hawking, 67, said, according to media reports Tuesday. Charities for the disabled said the extra cost of buying the scooters would have an immediate impact on the number they could afford to buy. Ever since the scooters were first invented 30 years ago they have been classed as equipment for the disabled, making them exempt from tax. According to the reports, a body called the World Customs Organisation, which advises governments on import duties, recently issued a document recommending that scooters should be taxed, as they could be used by people without disabilities. Although many countries, including the US, had rejected the advice, the EU decided to accept it, and has put the scooters in the same tax classification as Formula 1 cars.
Copyright DPA
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bestmobilityscooters.net
By:
Debbie ,
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:46:05 GMT
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That is terrible. Health care is already expansive enough.
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Mobility Scooters
By:
Eileen ,
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:28:29 GMT
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I use a mobility scooter. It enabled me to work two years beyond retirement age, and therefore I did not claim the govt. disability allowance until I ceased working, I can walk less than nine meters without severe respiratory consequences.
At this point and with the greatest respect as a disabled pensioner myself, I must emphasise the vast psychological advantages of using a scooter rather than a wheel chair (if one is able to) and nobody knows better than I that anything which makes a person feel “less ill than they could be” does much for the morale, and a scooter does have this effect.
I would look at this from a different point of view if one had to declare that one had a mobility need at the time of purchase to be exempted from tax.
Of course this is another case of Europe trying to push us around. Don’t we make mobility scooters in this country? All I can suggest is that we start making them & if Continental Europeans are the only people who know how to make them. Our government should adopt a policy similar to the old “callup”where immigrants to this country would have to work for two years on minimum wage making these scooters, before being allowed to claim benefits and anyone who refused without good cause should be refused benefits.
I think it is time we waved goodbye to Europe.
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Scooter tax
By:
Edward ,
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:54:53 GMT
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I find the decesion to classify scooters and bring to bear another tax either here in America or anywhere else is without doubt doubt one of the single most reprehensibile actions taken by any government or ruling body that I have heard of . I can't even bgin to fathom the minds behind it. As a person with a disability (although not a scooter user)I can tell you from harsh experience that the diabled have quite enough to deal with in everyday life and for any government to attempt to balance a budget on the back of the poor and infrim digusts me. I am apalled!!
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