TOWARDS FAIRER TAX John Redwood (Sound Off, CM 19-25 October)
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highlights some of the worst features of the government's action to reduce road congestion and environmental damage. He offers an alternative approach. The recent fuel crisis offers an ideal opportunity to create a patently fairer tax regime which follows the adage that -the polluter pays".
Vehicle excise duty is merely a tax on possession, whereas fuel taxes are closer to a tax on use. There is no logic to using VED as a means of penalising or rewarding owners according to the damage they supposedly cause to the roads or environment.
The motorway network was founded on a post-war pledge to get Britain moving again. "Export or die" was the key phrase, and motorways were essentially for moving Britishmade goods to the docks and raw materials in. Today they are dominated by commuters— lorries have long been banned from the outer lane. Taxation policies have, in turn, abolished special car tax, aided the growth of the company car market and,just recently, given a further boost to car sales by insisting on massive price reductions.
If vehicle use grows at X% then, all else being equal, road mileage will have to increase at X% merely to retain present congestion levels. A blanket reduction in fuel tax will only encourage private motorists to drive more, while any benefit which hauliers derive will soon vaporise, human nature being what it is.
The roads were remarkably quiet during the recent fuel shortages, just as they were in the mid-seventies, during the Suez crisis and when there was petrol rationing during the Second World War. These are the messages the Chancellor should be picking up.
Anthony C Philips,
Salisbury, Wilts.