£72 for a freakin' passport renewal!!

"Jonathan Bryce" wrote

Don't be silly.

Yes

No

Correct: no. A lot of people on low incomes pay direct tax and they all pay indirect tax, but can't afford overseas holidays. Why should they subsidise those who can afford it?

"Peter Lynch" wrote

Not taking overseas holidays doesn't necessarily imply not holding a passport. What proportion of the population do you think *doesn't* have a passport?

Let's make it easy - scrap National ID scheme. Introduce "free passports for all" (legit Brits only, of course!), and get it all paid for from general taxation. Sure winner because everyone wins and everybody can go on holiday!!!!

Paper does not burn in a microwave. To make absolutely sure, I have just tried it. The paper was completely unaffected.

Why on earth would someone who had no intention of going on a foreign holiday "buy" a passport.

It's a stupid thing to do

tim

It might come as a surprise to some, but people have been known to go abroad for reasons other than "going on a foreign holiday"...

"tim (not at home)" wrote

How many people can be *sure* they will *never* want to? And if the opportunity arises at v.short notice, it may be difficult to get a new one in time.

Further, it can be useful for showing ID in a number of other situations, eg opening a bank a/c (and before you say "use your driving licence", some people have not / cannot pass their driving test!).

"tim (not at home)" wrote

Hardly. Do *you* only ever get cash out of a machine the minute before you need it?

Is it "stupid" to carry some cash around with you, even when you probably won't use it that day?

AIUI the improvements are related to security issues. Designed to make passports more difficult to forge, and so to prevent foreign terrorists getting in using fake ID.

That's a bogus argument. You can get cheap flights and stay with friends, and might do this only once in the lifetime of a passport. That way the cost of the passport becomes a signifiant portion of the total cost of the trip.

It's like saying "considering what people pay on a visit to the supermarket [say £30] it is a minor expense taking a taxi home [costing say £10]".

Yes, but my point was that the high-cost features benefit everyone, not just users.

Yes, but it's questionable whether those assumptions are justified, and even if they were, it would if anything justify abolition of the fee, on the grounds of lessening the administrative burden of handling all those payments.

You could make a similar argument about TV licence fees. At a guess, more households have TVs than passports.

Perhaps a case could be made for the issuing of driving licences which restrict driving to vehicles in the following categories: {}.

So I was correct

Redman

Well yes I did miss that possibility, but the discussion was about people on low incomes.

Not many low income jobs have a need for foreign travel (you might find one or two)

tim

I realised that the use here was as ID. My point is that it's a blooming expensive ID.

It doesn't cost me any money to draw out 100 pounds that I don't need today (assuming that I don't lose it)

tim

There are plenty of other companies who pay for you to go on planes - hence my short trip to Amsterdam earlier this month. Like everything along those lines, there are a finite number of flights and posting the details here would mean more people trying to get the same flights, so I don`t think I`ll post it here.

You`re quite welcome to slag off Europe and go further afield if you wish, that`s your choice. Then again, going from your posts it seems you can`t get there ecause you can`t afford to. If you`d rather spend huge amount sof money on flights to get to America and the like, and therefore have much fewer holidays, then that is your choice. I`d rather explore the local area for now, I`ll go back to America when someone else pays for me to go there again thanks.

Actually, no, I mis-remembered. I've often taken civilian flights between Qatar and Kuwait using only a military ID.

"tim (not at home)" wrote

Not if you didn't get it *just* for that... [Marginal cost then zero.]

"tim (not at home)" wrote

Don't you lose interest on it? If not, you need to find a better bank a/c!

Around 75p and 25p respectively.

Chris