Merseyside against tax
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ANY MOVES to make vehicle excise tax a tax on the possession rather than the use of a vehicle will be strongly opposed by the Merseyside Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
George Alcock told the Chamber's council that such a system would affect hauliers with vehicles laid up — it could be a serious matter if they still had to pay £600 to £800 tax on a vehicle. The normal practice when vehicles were laid up was for operators to surrender the Operator's Licence.
If this was not done, the vehicle was still liable to inspection by the Department of Transport.
After considering the Department of Transport's consultative document, the Chamber's Surface Transport Committee decided to oppose the proposed change because it would be complex from an adminstrative standpoint, and although the document stated that heavy commercial vehicles would be exempt, no weight figure had been mentioned.
If the suggestion was correct that this figure would be 12 tons gross weight, it was too high, said the Committee.