$546 Identity Cards Could be Labours Poll Tax, Say Tories

[sintax]

£300 identity cards could be Labour's poll tax, say Tories
By Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent

30 May 2005

The introduction of identity cards could become Labour's poll tax, the Government was told after an academic study put a £300-a-card price tag on the controversial scheme.

Research by the London School of Economics (LSE) concluded that the project could cost the country up to £18bn over a decade, more than three times the Home Office's estimate. Ministers strongly rejected the LSE's findings, which accused the Government of making a series of basic errors in calculating the price of the scheme.

The ID Cards Bill was reintroduced last week after running out of time before the election. The Government insists the introduction of ID cards, initially alongside biometric passports, is essential to combat identity fraud, terrorism and fraudulent use of public services.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=642652

[evermind]

1. Prediction:

They'll hope for opposition to gather around this price tag, then subsidise it drastically, and claim to have dismissed all objections.

[LivingInTheBubble]

4. the "subsidy" of course coming from the taxpayers... nt

[struggle4progress]

2. If ID theft is a pain now, just wait'll organized crime hacks ..

.. the mainframe and fakes the biometric data: the victim of ID theft will NEVER get the frickin mess straightened out ...

[Nihil]

5. Or, even more likely, ...

... some donkey of a clerk transposes two characters of an ID entry
and suddenly YOU are in deep, deep do-do ...

Speaking as someone who has had to fight against "what the computer
said" on a few occasions, this is just a nightmare waiting to happen.

[bennywhale]

3. Well they'll have a problem with me cos i ain't fucking having one