The Inescapable
Page 31
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TAX, time and death have at least one thing in common; all are inescapable. But. they all tend, unfortunately, to breed fatalism in the minds of people. This weary disease seems this year to have affected road transport's approach to fuel tax and the Budget. Small wonder if it has, because no-one can have tried so hard with such a blank score sheet as have road transport operators. Not only have their annual efforts not been crowned with success; they have been doubly chagrined to sec the wretched tax actually increase in size.
In years gone by the welkins have resounded to the thunder of the challenge. More recently, it is true, the sound has been more muted; the instrument less sonorous than the sky, itself. In preparing next Tuesday's 1964 Budget, the Chancellor could be forgiven if he thought the public outcry from operators had been stilled. Perhaps more is being done " behind the scenes ", or perhaps (and this is more likely) more urgent matters claim people's attention. For little seems to have been done, compared with the unsuccessful past..
It cannot possibly be that the industry no longer cares. Equally, it cannot possibly be that the industry's leaders have decided their electorate really can afford this tax and are glad to pay it. Could it be that this is one more instance of road transport's need for a powerful all-party lobby which could negotiate such matters on behalf of all the constituent operator organizations?
As it is, the industry's efforts are largely unco-ordinated. Surely one thunderous crash on a closed door is more likely to be heard than an intermittent series of gentle taps?