dregates tax threat to tipper operators
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y Dominic Perry
ier operators threatened I ruin by the "Aggregates Tax" to come in on 1 April next r(CM 25 Jan-1 Feb) are hopfor a last-minute U-turn by the government. The "environmental tax" was introduced as part of the Finance Bill which was passed in May. It will add E1.60/tonne to the tax on quarried rock and is designed to force firms into using more recycled material in construction projects. Operators estimate that the Treasury's coffers will be swelled by about £350m a year.
Imported pre-cast products
such as building blocks, tiles and paving slabs will not be hit by the levy, increasing imports and putting further pressure on UK operators. The tax will apply to imported aggregates but Conti nental producers will not have to pay the levy on waste material, dust or other by-products.
Roger Cullimore, who runs a quarry in Gloucestershire along with a tipper operation, warns that hauliers are in for a rough time: "A lot of quarries are going to have to shut down because of this and therefore the amount of haulage required is going to drop too," he says. "The government itself buys 40% of all the material produced each year so it will be shelling out even more money for its own schemes."
Robert Durward, director of the British Aggregates Association, says that operators in Northern Ireland will be particularly hard hit because of its land border with the Irish Republic. He adds: "There is going to be a tremendous loss of work to the South, with producers of precast materials relocating to the other side of the border"