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Budget focus on du
Page 15
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No one knows what the exact contents of Chancellor Gordon Brown's red Budget box will be next week—but hauliers and industry bodies have quite a few suggestions for him. Chris Tindall looks at the haulage industry's Budget wish-list.
• Hauliers gearing up for Chancellor Gordon Brown's Budget speech on 9 April are desperately hoping the Treasury will not increase their burden by upping taxes.
The positive tax and regulatory regime which previously benefited the UK has been steadily eroded and it is generally felt that any further increase will threaten the haulage industry's competitiveness.
On a positive note, the Chancellor's pre-Budget statement in December gave hope to hauliers facing crippling liability insurance premiums, with the announcement of a formal review of its operation (CM 5-11 Dec 2002).
But there was no men tion of action to tackle extortionate UK diesel duty or sky-high oil prices.
In a sub
mission to the Treasury hoping to influence the Budget, the Society of Motor Traders and Manufacturers (SMMT) urged the Chancellor not to increase business taxes and to resist any increase on fuel duty.
Global competition
The society's chief executive, Christopher Macgowan, says global competition is fierce and the government must act to enhance the UK's competitiveness: "The Chancellor's commitment to positive tax regimes and economic stability over recent years must be maintained in order to keep Britain's position as a leading global player in the industry."
The British Aggregates Association (BAA) has also written to the Chancellor, demanding a full-scale review of the £1.60/tonne tax introduced last April.
"More and more evidence continues to emerge that the aggregates levy is damaging the industry," says Association director Robert Durward. "Small businesses have been hit particularly hard."
The BAA is also calling for abandonment of the levy in Northern Ireland, since the industry there cannot adapt to it, and it points to the massive fall in aggregates sales in NI as evidence.
Group fleet manager at the British International Freight Association (BIFA), Sid Sadique, narrows Gordon Brown's priorities down to three major areas for haulage: "Fuel excise duty is a big one; we would like to see a big incentive towards greener fuels," he says. "Secondly, vehicle excise duty; we want them to lower it further and get it in line with foreign competition. And we want him to reverse the decision by the Strategic Rail Authority to cut funding for road-to-rail traffic. From an environmental point of view, they need to develop the infrastructure. It's lacking to say the least.'
Diesel duty increases
But it is further hikes in fuel costs that prey on the minds of most hauliers. The Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association are both calling on the Treasury to curb further rises on diesel duty.
In addition, the FTA has also called for closer joint working between the industry and the government regarding the operational details of the forthcoming truck road-user charging arrangements. It also wants clarification of the revised Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) system, introduced in the 2001 Budget (CM 13-19 Mar).
The RHA sums up the situation by saying UK hauliers are now under threat of bankruptcy as fuel prices rise on an almost daily basis. It says there have been instances where the pump price has been almost the same as that charged for bulk purchase. The association's chief executive, Roger King, calls the situation "catastrophic".
"Mr Brown must act in our favour and lower fuel tax levels," he adds. "Unless something is done, we will soon see all road hauliers buying their fuel from garage forecourts as a matter of course, simply because it's cheaper,"