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TRANSPORT POLICY 'THROWN OUT OF WINDOW'

23th April 1965, Page 39
23th April 1965
Page 39
Page 39, 23th April 1965 — TRANSPORT POLICY 'THROWN OUT OF WINDOW'
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THE only possible conclusion that could be drawn from the recent Budget decision to increase the goods 'chicle road tax by 50 per cent was that he Chancellor had flown in the face of Ministry of Transport experts, or that the 3overnment had decided to throw a -ational transport policy out of the vindow.

This was stated by Mr. K. C: Turner, iresident of the Traders Road Transport kssociation, speaking at Newcastle upon ryne last week at the AGM of the kssociation's Northern division.

A rational transport policy could be Mained only if road and rail were :reated alike, he said, and Ministry ;tatistics proved quite conclusively that ill forms of goods vehicle—not least the -wavy lorry—had long contributed more :han their fair share both to their true and costs and to the general exchequer: an the Ministry's own evidence, goods vehicles paid a surplus of r63 per cent to he general exchequer over and above the road costs to which they gave rise.

The further 50 per cent increase in taxation handicapped the existing disadvantage by which read transport had to operate in competition with the railways and inevitably took us further away from a rational transport policy, said Mr. Turner. There should be no question of an increase in road taxation until the railways sere contributing proportionately to the general exchequer. and it was paradoxical for the Chancellor to push up road tax just a few weeks before the publication of the Geddes Report (a report specially commissioned to provide the facts of goods vehicle licensing and road taxation). This hardly made sense by any standards, and it completely distorted the prospects for establishing a fair basis of competition between road and rail.

The effect of the Budget on road transport, following hard on the heels of the 6d. increase in fuel tax, would be reflected in consumer prices of goods sent by road and, because goods vehicles were used in virtually every aspect of trade and industry, would be felt throughout the entire economy.

Tags

Organisations: Ministry of Transport
People: Turner
Locations: Newcastle

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