The Budget
Page 30
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From our Political Correspondent
IN his Budget speech on Monday, Mr. i Selwyn Lloyd consolidated the 10 per cent. surcharge on petrol and derv, imposed last July, into a new tax level for hydrocarbon oils. As a result, duty on these oils, which includes heavy oils used as road fuel, went up from 2s. 6d. to 2s. 9d. per gallon from midnight on Monday. This means no increase in price, but it represents a severe shock. to those who thought the 10 per cent. surcharge might be taken off.
It brought criticism at Westminster. The Chancellor's measure involved the technical abolition of the surcharge and-. the fixing of new duty rates. But M.P.s pointed out that this was hardly the spirit in which the " regulators" were accepted as curbs on demand last July. The Chancellor, however, gave notice that he would seek powers to apply his " regulator " again over all or part of the same range of taxes should it become necessary.
if he does, another 10 per cent. could bring road fuel duties to over 3s. a gallon.
On Tuesday, the chairman of the National Road Transport Federation, Mr. D. O. Good, expressed dissatisfaction with the Budget's provisions which, he said, instead of removing the surcharge, consolidated the already heavy burden on passenger and commercial transport.