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B OOST FOR B OOTLEGGERS

3rd May 2001, Page 18
3rd May 2001
Page 18
Page 18, 3rd May 2001 — B OOST FOR B OOTLEGGERS
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Your main story last week was about fuel laundering and the way gangs in Ireland are extending into the British mainland (CM26 April2 May). I am in no way supporting these activities; after all, it seems established that this illegal diesel contains chemicals used to remove the dye that will damage your engine; and as the old saying goes `'if you can't do the time, don't do the crime".

But this is one more example of the harm being caused by the EU's fragmented tax system. Of course fuel laundering is rife on the North-South Irish border— with the South charging less duty there was bound to be a market for smuggled or laundered fuel. It's only the Channel that has allowed the UK government to get away with the highest diesel duty in Europe.

My concern is that desperate hauliers are being forced into the arms of organised criminals simply to keep their businesses afloat. And once these criminals worm their way into the industry they will look for other ways to turn an illegal buck.

Hauliers, more than most businessmen, have good reason to support a federal, or at least homogenised EU because even a quick comparison of taxes and other haulage costs shows that we have very little to lose and a lot to gain—like the survival of our industry. After all, do you really think that CM's continental counterparts are running stories about UK hauliers undercutting their French/German/Dutch competitors?

The fuel smuggling "industry" is simply a symptom of a tax regime that is seen to be urjustand as history shows, that tends to make smugglers into folk heroes. We need a pan European tax system and we need it now. J Harvey Declaiming, Surrey.

Tags

Organisations: European Union, UK government
Locations: Surrey

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