ID Card Costs

Three petitions I broadly agree with but that annoy me by their similarity here ...

The first is entitled Supply the first ID card free of charge and the explanatory notes say

"I object to ID cards on the grounds they are just another money making exercise for the UK Government. I believe that if the government really believed in them they would issue the first one for free. If I then erased mine by my own error then I have no objection to pay for it to be replaced."

I object to ID cards (and most particularly the NIR) on a whole range of grounds - but this is a damned fine one to start with. Of course, I suspect the Government's answer will be that the things have to be paid for somehow and if the cost isn't explicitly to the purchaser, then it'll be carried by all tax-payers. And since they're nominally not going to be compulsory (at least at first) why should everyone carry the cost, etc. But still - it's a good spirited suggestion.

The second is entitled Issue the first National Identity Card free of charge and the explanatory notes say

"By the time National Identity Cards are required to be carried the issuing system will have been paid for through taxes. On that basis, as we have already paid for it, the first National Identity Card should be issued free of charge."

I imagine that the answer is going to be that the issuing system may have been paid for initially through taxes but that these costs should be recouped to be fair to those who aren't getting one, or something along those lines.

The third is entitled remove the cost of ID cards, should they be compulsory and the explanatory notes say

"Sould everyone over the age of 16 have to have an ID card then the cost of this should be nothing, as people do not have a choice."

Again, the response is obvious: the funds have to come from somewhere, even if they are compulsory. Additionally, we can expect a good deal of blether about how they will not (to begin with) be compulsory, that it will simply be "convenient" to have one.