The Price Of Their Toys
Jul. 9th, 2013 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
f4f3One of the nice consequences of being a salaryman is being able to join in the benefits programmes which Japanese Mega Corp have in place for full-timers.
One of these is the company car scheme (of which more later) and another the Bike To Work scheme. This is a bit of tax avoidance, but it's very green and such like and thus not the bad type of tax avoidance.
Basically the company buys a bike, and I lease it from them. Because the payments come directly from my salary, I don't pay tax or NI on that bit of my wages, so I get a 40% discount. In effect. Or something. Actually, I don't really care, because I've been wanting to buy a road bike for ages. If you've been paying attention, you probably know that I already have two bikes. A mountain bike, which gets used around forestry tracks and canals, and which I love dearly, and a touring bike, which gets used for commuting, or going long distances when I want to carry stuff around with me on panniers. One of these is 10 years old, the other about 6 or 7, and both are in great condition.
What I want now is a road bike, to use for longer road trips where the purpose is to cycle quickly, not just to get somewhere by bike. Do I need a road bike? No. Will I use it? Certainly, and it will make me fitter, too, in a way that touring doesn't. So I'm in the process of sourcing this beautiful piece of mobile art:
One of these is the company car scheme (of which more later) and another the Bike To Work scheme. This is a bit of tax avoidance, but it's very green and such like and thus not the bad type of tax avoidance.
Basically the company buys a bike, and I lease it from them. Because the payments come directly from my salary, I don't pay tax or NI on that bit of my wages, so I get a 40% discount. In effect. Or something. Actually, I don't really care, because I've been wanting to buy a road bike for ages. If you've been paying attention, you probably know that I already have two bikes. A mountain bike, which gets used around forestry tracks and canals, and which I love dearly, and a touring bike, which gets used for commuting, or going long distances when I want to carry stuff around with me on panniers. One of these is 10 years old, the other about 6 or 7, and both are in great condition.
What I want now is a road bike, to use for longer road trips where the purpose is to cycle quickly, not just to get somewhere by bike. Do I need a road bike? No. Will I use it? Certainly, and it will make me fitter, too, in a way that touring doesn't. So I'm in the process of sourcing this beautiful piece of mobile art:
