No tax without representation

King Edward I was known as the 'Hammer of the Scots'.  David Cameron and George Osborne should be known as the Hammers of the Railway Passengers.  A 4% hike in prices comes in next January as we are promised always jam tomorrow (increased capacity, better trains), never jam today.  Once again, the insidious distinction rears if head (begun under Gordon Brown) about how passengers must bear more of the cost and taxpayers less, as if rail passengers aren't taxpayers themselves.  I'm sure if rail passengers were to find a way to withhold their tax, a clever lawyer could put up a strong case of acquittal.  I'd like to see the Sir Humphreys at the Treasury suck on that!
The tragicomic thing is that rail fares are calculated at the rate of inflation (real prices index - RPI) plus one per cent (a reversal by Labour of the Major's government's legislation of RPI minus one per cent) and the previous Governor of the Bank of England said that the rise in rail fares is a major cause of inflation.  So it is a never-ending upward spiral - a Catch-22.  Inflation pushes up rail fares which push up inflation and so on.  Labour talk about renationalisation of the railways but commuters just want a rail service where they don't have to pay the Earth (again) - it is an open political goal if Labour were to pledge to limit rail prices to below inflation increases.  The trouble is that whoever is in power has chauffeur-driven cars (like the train company executives) and forgets the needs of the rail passengers.